Merab Dvalishvili’s convincing UFC 311 win over the previously unbeaten Umar Nurmagomedov proves he is the best 135-pound fighter in history, according to former champion Henry Cejudo.

The Olympic gold winner and former UFC two-division champion was defeated by Dvalishvili last February by unanimous decision in a title eliminator bout that served as an appetiser to the Georgian’s title win over Sean O’Malley this past September — and after Dvalishvili underscored his status as the division’s best fighter in Inglewood, California last weekend, Cejudo says that his former foe’s achievements in the Octagon are unparalleled.

“Yan, O’Malley, Cejudo, Umar, Moraes,  Aldo, I mean, he’s fought everybody. He’s fought everybody. He’s beat everybody in this division you can say in their prime,” Cejudo said on the PoundForPound podcast, as noted by MMA Fighting. “Merab is the bantamweight GOAT, at least in my eyes. He only has one title defense, but the people who he has beaten is great. Great top-5 résumé, maybe in the UFC, period.”

And not just that, Cejudo says that Merab’s achievements should be better reflected in the formal pound for pound rankings.

“I feel like at this point I think you’ve got to put slide him at least pound for pound top 3,” he said. “He should be ahead of [Alex] Pereira, you have to slide him in at number two. Look at the win streak that he’s on and who he’s beat. I eat my words, another level of respect for Merab for what he’s done, who he beat. I don’t feel so damn bad losing to him.

“One thing that Merab does do well, he likes to have fun. He gets the crowd involved. F*ck, he did it with me. I could hear the f*cking crowd cheering. He was doing the exact same thing to a guy like Umar Nurmagomedov. … You’re talking about a guy that has a good fighting spirit, but also understands the tactical sense and how it is that he’s able to really win the crowd.”

“If you win the crowd, you typically tend to win the judges. I think that’s exactly what he did.”