Jose Aldo once survived 16 takedown attempts in an elite display against Merab Dvalishvili.

Aldo found himself fighting the current bantamweight champion at UFC 278 in August 2022, in a performance that showed the 35-year-old at the time still had it in him.

Aldo was ranked higher than Dvalishvili when the pair faced off in 2022getty

Dvalishvili, who was a hot prospect at the time, would go on to dominate Olympic Gold medalist Henry Cejudo, before winning the division’s belt from Sean O’Malley.

Against Cejudo, Dvalishvili completed five of his 11 takedown attempts to earn a title shot seven months later.

Then, the Georgian successfully took down O’Malley six times out of his 15 attempts at the Sphere in Las Vegas to be crowned the UFC’s new bantamweight champion.

But against Aldo, he couldn’t complete any and the fight proved to be much tougher than those that proceeded.

Dvalishvili is second to the iconic Georges St-Pierre for the most takedowns landed in the UFC’s history.

The Georgian fighter has successfully completed 85 takedowns in his 13 UFC bouts, so it is pretty remarkable Aldo survived 16 different attempts to Dvalishvili, who was four years his junior.

The UFC veteran, who was once knocked out by Conor McGregor in 13 seconds, came into the fight as the underdog in the bookmakers.

And it didn’t take long for the Brazilian to put his defence into practice, as Dvalishvili attempted his first takedown only 90 seconds in the fight.

Aldo was able to defend well, keeping his balance steady by hopping around on his left foot – something he got fairly used to during the three-round bout.

Dvalishvili would go on to try again and again, but Aldo used his experience to find himself backed up against the cage on several occasions, making it harder for the Georgian to floor him.

TTN SportsDvalishvili set a precedent for the rest of the fight when his first takedown attempt was unsuccessful[/caption]

TNT SportsBut he always seemed to know how to defend them[/caption]

One of the best moments of the fight came with 60 seconds left on the clock.

Dvalishvili remained insistent on bringing his opponent to the ground in order to cement his name on each judge’s scorecard as the winner of the fight. Aldo, however, had other ideas.

With the Brazilian pressed up against the cage, Dvalishvili put all of his strength into lifting his opponent towards the canvas.

The move had both of Aldo’s legs in the air, with only his arms available to stop him smashing the canvas.

TNT SportsDvalishvili flung Aldo one last time towards the end of the fight[/caption]

But Aldo quickly recovered using all four limbs to shrug off any further attempts to get him to the ground and found his way to both feet again.

Both men embraced each other come the end of the fight in a sign of respect for one another.

The judges closely scored the contest 28-29, 27-30 and 28-29 in favour of Dvalishvili, but Aldo proved he could still cut it in what was his 20th UFC fight.

But the Brazilian yet again stopped him from succeeding

Aldo was the first-ever UFC fighter to claim the featherweight belt in November 2010, before successfully defending it seven times in a row.

His loss to McGregor in 2015 ended an 18-fight win streak, and was the first time he had lost in 10 years.

This weekend, Aldo faces American Mario Bautista in the bantamweight division at the Delta Centre, Salt Lake City, for UFC 307.

Alex Pereira defends his light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree Jr in the main event, while Julianna Pena attempts to claim the women’s bantamweight title from Raquel Pennington.