UFC champ Merab Dvalishvili ranks his last five opponents from hardest to easiest

UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is on one of the best runs in MMA right now, with wins over a host of former champions and undefeated contenders behind him.

In a recent conversation with X user @judobetter995, he ranked his five most recent opponents in terms of difficulty.

To refresh, his last five opponents in order were: Umar Nurmagomedov, Sean O’Malley, Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, and Jose Aldo. All but Nurmagomedov are former champions, and Nurmagomedov entered their fight with an undefeated 18-0 record.

Merab Dvalishvili ranks his last 5 opponents

Interestingly, Dvalishvili claims Aldo, a former featherweight champ and living MMA legend was the hardest opponent of the bunch.

The second hardest opponent, he claims, was Russia’s Yan, who briefly reigned as bantamweight champ.

Next was Cejudo, a former champ at flyweight and bantamweight.

The second easiest of the five, Dvalishvili claimed, was O’Malley, the man he defeated to win the bantamweight title.

Last, and seemingly least, he said, was Nurmagomedov. He beat the Russian with a close decision in his last fight.

See the full list from Dvalishvili below, via Championship Rounds:

Merab Dvalishvili ranks his last 5 opponents in difficulty from 1 (hardest) to 5 (easiest):

1) Jose Aldo (hardest)
2) Petr Yan
3) Henry Cejudo
4) Sean O’Malley
5) Umar Nurmagomedov (easiest)

(h/t @judobetter995) #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/qQCHBtBx1o

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) March 19, 2025

Merab Dvalishvili doesn’t currently have a fight booked, but is widely expected to rematch O’Malley next. Yan has also put himself back in title contention with wins over Song Yadong and Deiveson Figueiredo. The winner of an upcoming fight between Figueiredo and Cory Sandhagen could also jump the line to fight for the title, in which case Dvalishvili would not need to participate in a rematch.