Having pushed his winning streak to a baker’s dozen with just his second finish in this run showed that “The Machine” is continuing to update his software and add to his arsenal, despite already being the unquestioned top talent in the 135-pound weight class. He was largely unbothered by anything O’Malley threw at him, but scaled back the overt excitement in favor of more focused aggression, and the result was a tremendous performance that feels like it put the “best bantamweight of all-time” conversation to bed.
With all due respect to Dominick Cruz, who ruled the division across two organizations, multiple reigns, and several excellent wins, this run Dvalishvili is on is next level, rivaling some of the best overall runs any champion has had as they’ve worked their way towards the title and into their time on the throne. His last seven victories have come against former champions or title challengers, and he upped the ante on Saturday night by submitting O’Malley.
The 34-year-old is an absolute menace for anyone that shares the Octagon with him, and a joy to watch as a fan. What makes it even better — in my opinion — is that he is active and wants to stay that way. Saturday was his second successful title defense of the year, and before he stepped out of the cage, he was already publicly welcoming a fight with Cory Sandhagen, the presumptive No. 1 contender.
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Dvalishvili is on an insane run and seemingly getting better. If he can successfully defend his title again, he’ll match his close friend and training partner Aljamain Sterling for the most consecutive successful title defenses in bantamweight history, and move to two wins shy of equaling Anderson Silva’s record for the most consecutive UFC victories.
At this moment, dethroning Dvalishvili looks like it’s going to be a Herculean task, but watching people try as the champion defends his position is going to remain wildly entertaining theatre.
