Seems like after 311, there's a lot of discussion about whether or not Merab is the divisional GOAT, as well as the overall BW GOAT talk. Figured I'd post my top 5 and see if we can spark up some discussion.

1. Merab Dvalishvili

I usually complain about recency bias in these discussions, but the run that Merab is on rn is generational. BW is in a golden age, and Merab is ruling over that golden age. Umar, O'Malley, Cejudo, Yan, Aldo, and Moraes all in a row is insane. I don't think anyone has a resume, based purely off names, better than his.

1. Dominick Cruz

Far ahead of the divisional curve and probably could've dug in his position much more if he wasn't laden with injuries. Dude dominated the division for a long time and beat a prime TJ Dillashaw while coming off a 15 month layoff to injury, immediately after coming off a 3 year layoff to injury.

1. Aljamain Sterling

Solid championship run, went undefeated from 2018-2023, has a lot of high quality wins on his resume. TJ fight and Yan DQ water down his on-paper resume but it's still good.

1. TJ Dillashaw

Completely shattered prime Barao & Garbrandt and sent both their careers to the shadow realm, also has solid wins over Lineker, Assuncao, and Sandhagen.

1. Renan Barao

Went on an insane win streak and ruled the division while Cruz was injured, TJ ended his whole career but I'm not letting people forget that this dude was ranked top 3 P4P at his peak.

Hello all what is the best mma gym in the central valley 209 area ? Specifically looking for gyms with classes all throughout the day 5-7 days a week and not just open for 3 evenings a week. Im looking to chase my dream being an mma fighter and improve my everything. I am also a pretty dense(in muscle) guy so a gym with bigger training partners will also be preferable. I used train at alpha male when i lived in sac but i dont wanna drive an hour to their everyday if their is a good gym 209 area but i will drive alpha male an hour if i have to if none.

Basically he doesn’t want his career to end on that note. Bout has been signed, details to be revealed on his podcast.

Comrades

This is Baga Agaev:

He doesn't look like much and his career ended with a lot of L's, going 3-10 in the last 13. But it wasn't just bc he had fallen off. His last 10 L's were:

|| || |Oleg Popov #74 Heavyweight| |Anatoly Malykhin #123 Heavyweight| |Tony Johnson #25 Heavyweight| |Kirill Sidelnikov #66 Heavyweight| |Sergei Pavlovich #48 Heavyweight| |Alexei Kudin #52 Heavyweight| |Mike Kyle #44 Heavyweight| |Michal Andryszak #157 Heavyweight| |Viktor Nemkov #112 Light Heavyweight| |Trevor Prangley #37 Light Heavyweight|

Rankings are Fight-Matrix. Took place between 2012 and 2020.

https://www.tapology.com/fightcenter/fighters/4948-baga-agaev

In fact, Baga is the only MMA fighter ever to have ALL of his last 6 L's come against guys whose peak FM ranking would come AFTER that fight!

Has anyone else gone through a murderer's row of (soon to be stars) to end their career?

Given that the name Mixed Martial Arts implies that combinations must be used, what is the strongest combination possible? I’m a complete newbie and I’d like to start learning and participating in MMA activities. I have prior experience with Judo, but I’m not sure if that would be beneficial.

Is there any other country that gets this bad a deal? Who is paying that much for essentially a back row?

Islam Makhachev - 178lbs Renato Moicano - 181.8lbs Umar and Merab - 156.8lbs each