The UFC's All Time Takedown Leader

The UFC’s first pay per view of 2025 was full of entertaining grappling. We’ll be reviewing Islam Makhachev’s short darce, why it works, and why Charles Oliveira was not able to darce Arman Tsarukyan in the premium section this week. But before that, we’re looking more closely at how Merab Dvalishvili set up his takedowns and exhausted Umar Nurmagomedov.

Merab Dvalishvili overwhelmed Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311. Not only did he defend his title but he beat GSP’s career takedown record by out wrestling a fighter who had never been taken down before.

I could devote thousands of words to the Georgian juggernaut’s pace and pressure. Many already have. How many times have you heard the phrase “weaponizing cardio” when people talk about Merab?

To say Merab only won the fight because of his cardio is a gross overstatement. His win built from one simple step that facilitated the rest of his offense. It’s not complicated. But it was damaging and damn effective.

If you study the technical side of striking sports you’re probably familiar with the fight for foot position that happens when an orthodox fighter fights a southpaw. Because both fighters have opposite lead hands forward, the one who gets their lead foot outside of the other’s is able to line up their rear hand and lead with a powerful strike from that side. The inverse is also true. If your lead foot is inside of your opponent’s you have an easy avenue to split their guard with a jab.

For 25 minutes Merab fought for outside foot position. That allowed him to land strikes with his rear hand.

Take a look at the three images below. On top you’ll see Merab stepping outside to throw a lead right to the head. In the middle you’ll see that same step setting up a body punch. On bottom you’ll see Merab stepping outside to throw an over hand that becomes a takedown attempt.

In my opinion, this second frame is crucial for understanding the entire fight. Look at this slowed down exchange from round 1.

That’s four body punches in one exchange. That tells us Merab built body punching into this gameplan to make his style that much more exhausting.

Over the first two rounds it didn’t mean much. Umar was outpointing him and Merab was losing a close fight.

But because Merab’s offense was all coming from the same first step Umar wasn’t able to read the shots, got cracked, and Merab kept running through him.

It didn’t matter that Umar stopped this takedown. He was working harder than Merab and getting more tired, thanks to the constant body punching before the takedown attempts.

When the work caught up and Umar started fading Merab kept on drilling Umar’s solar plexus and diaphragm.

Now let’s look at what this body work did to Umar. Here he is defending a takedown in round 1.

Umar was able to stop the takedown by hitting Merab with his hips, sprawling, and then keeping Merab’s posture down to prevent Merab from finishing the takedown. But look at the difference in the 4th round.

The fight had already swung to Merab’s favor but this sequence really cemented Merab’s growing dominance over the contest and the whole division. He was standing over a man that had never been taken down and pushing his face to the dirt to say, “It’s not your time yet.”

By the time the 5th round was ending Merab was running away with it. In the final minute of the fight he sealed his win with flamboyant takedowns to play to the crowd.

Merab’s final takedown of the fight showed why I think he is at the cutting edge of MMA grappling. He combines trips and foot blocks with wall wrestling to finish takedowns when the action normally stalls.

With Merab’s win you really have to start looking at where his place in history will be. Before Umar, Merab beat Sean O’Malley, Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, Jose Aldo, and Marlon Moraes. Those are five decorated and dangerous MMA champions. It also means he doesn’t have many left in the top of his division. 

The next three ranked fighters are Deveison Figueredo, Marlon Vera, and Corey Sandhagen. But they’re all coming off losses.

I wouldn’t mind see Alexandre Pantoja move up to fight Merab. That would be an excellent grappling fight but you have to favor the bigger better wrestler Merab. Especially with Pantoja’s cardio issues.

This coming week one of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes ever is back. Marcelo Garcia is squaring off against Masakazu Imanari in ONE Championship.

I’m delighted to see Garcia cancer free using his new lease on life to get back to competing. Next week we’ll be reviewing that match, and whatever interesting action comes from the PFL this weekend. But today we’re not done yet.