While I was disappointed Sean O’Malley couldn’t retain his Bantamweight title, I’ve really hated all the discourse surrounding Merab Dvalishvili’s win, writing it off as nothing more than a guy suffocating the other against the cage, burning clock until there is none left.

First off, that’s what you’re supposed to do, whatever it takes to win. Secondly, if you actually watched with your eyes instead of your emotions, you would’ve noticed Merab mixed up his albeit very janky striking extremely well with his takedowns, baiting Suga to react to his looping over hands as he transitioned into single and double legs, only then would he hold Suga against the fence for minutes at a time.

Was he supposed to let Suga go? Was he not supposed to fight in a way that gives him the best advantage to win the fight? This isn’t WWE, we’re not here to make this as entertaining as possible for the fans, this is competition at the end of the day, and sometimes in competition you have to do the little, boring things to come out with a victory.

Besides, if the way Merab fought really bothers you that much, you’re not a real fan of mixed martial arts, you’re more so a fan of the striking aspect. Only if there was other sports within MMA that specifically focused on striking…

I personally love watching Merab fight, the guy is an absolute freakshow in the cage, completely ragdolling the best of the best in his weight class, outside of Jose Aldo. The guy made an Olympic Gold Medalist in wrestling in Henry Cejudo look like a child in the octagon, picking him up and bringing him over to Mark Zuckerberg, almost as a gift for the lizard man, simple because he can. If that doesn’t get you fired up, I don’t think MMA is the sport for you.

Merab has a genuine case for being the greatest bantamweight of all time. If he goes on to defend his title against Umar Nurmagomedov, the debate is over, the bantamweight GOAT will indisputably be Merab Dvalishvili.

Outside of the fact Merab is a great fighter, which apparently doesn’t get you very far in the eyes of the majority of UFC fans, he is absolutely hilarious on top of that. I love nothing more than listening to him ramble on and on whenever he is given a microphone. Whether he is talking about how hard he works, or how much he loves America, or just spewing complete and utter nonsense, listening to this guy talk in a language he is clearly still learning is entertaining no matter what he has to say.

So if you’re still salty over Suga’s loss, don’t be, because Suga himself has moved on and accepted defeat, because he’s a real martial artist and actually understands what this sport is all about, unlike the majority of his fans. But if that’s not enough for you, that’s really unfortunate, because as long as you watch the UFC you will be subjected to the wrestling aspect of the sport.

Remember, it’s MIXED martial arts.