Merab Dvalishvili is a more interesting grappler than Islam Makhachev, says Dominick Cruz

UFC legend Dominick Cruz has explained why he prefers Merab Dvalishvili’s grappling to Islam Makhachev’s grappling.

For the longest time now, Merab Dvalishvili has been seen as one of the best bantamweights on the planet. On the flip side, Islam Makhachev is considered by many to be the pound for pound best fighter in all of mixed martial arts right now.

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Both men have received a great deal of praise for their work in the UFC, with Dvalishvili trying to go 4-0 in a calendar year at UFC 323 on Saturday, whereas Makhachev is now a two-weight world champion.

In a recent interview, though, Dominick Cruz explained why Dvalishvili is his preference when it comes to their work in the grappling department.

Cruz’s view on Dvalishvili & Makhachev’s grappling

“I was always focused on trying to make it as exciting to watch at the same time as winning – mixing two things together,” Cruz told MMA Junkie. “Merab has found a way to do that with his grappling style a little bit more than Makhachev has. If you watch Merab’s style of grappling, his is like a takedown rally – like 33 takedowns or something. And the guy who’s getting up would say, ‘I’m really good at getting up.’ No, his style is exciting. He’s letting you up and you don’t even realize it.

“He’s letting you up just to stay behind you. … When you get tired of going down and up, now he’s on top of you beating you up. In between that, he’s landing a lot of big punches, too. He’s mixing in the striking with these takedown attempts. You get the top guy who’s riding you out, or you get the takedown artist. I personally like watching a takedown artist more than a guy who rides somebody out in top position in wrestling.

“Makhachev, he’s the guy that rides you out. He gets one takedown and you don’t get up again. He just burns the clock and makes it look dominant and easy. But when you watch Merab, he is doing something like that but it is crazier to watch, it’s fun to watch. While he is staying safe, while he is grappling, he’s also on his feet showing you an assortment of different takedowns and an assortment of different punch entrances to set up the takedowns.

“That’s cool to watch to me, and it’s a different wrinkle on the grappling than you see from Makhachev. When I watch Merab, he’s using more tools so it makes it a little bit more interesting to watch because it almost looks like the guy has a chance, but realistically, he’s pinned to their back while they’re on their feet.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie