Former WEC and UFC champion Dominick Cruz still believes he was one of the best of all time — but doesn’t object to talk of current 135-pound champion Merab Dvalishvili being the greatest bantamweight fighter of all time. 

Cruz, 40, c0nfirmed his retirement from active competition earlier this year, bringing to a close a near 20-year career in professional mixed martial arts which delivered an impressive 24-4 record and wins over divisional greats like Demetrious Johnson, Urijah Faber, Joseph Benavidez and TJ Dillashaw.

However, Cruz’s career was repeatedly interrupted by a series of injuries which robbed him of several years of his prime before finally calling time on his career soon after withdrawing from a February contest with Rob Font.

Cruz’s absence from the sport in recent years coincided with the rise of the reigning champion, Merab Dvalishvili, a fighter who has won 12 straight fights in the UFC cage as part of his rise to world title status — and with the cardio king Georgian having risen the ranks towards consideration as the best bantamweight fighter in history, Cruz says that it is a fine line that separates them both.

“The fact that there’s even a conversation with me involved, it’s not for me to decide something like that,” Cruz told MMA Junkie. ” I’m not saying it’s this level, but as a parallel you’re talking about Lebron [James] and [Michael] Jordan, right?

“You’re never going to convince me ever, ever, no matter what, under any circumstance that Lebron is better than Jordan. To me. But then you got the latter that’s going to say the opposite. I love that there’s even a conversation. If there’s a conversation, then that’s what this thing is about — and you know what? Merab is making it a conversation, too. Good for him.”

Dvalishvili’s ascent to world champion status has seen him defeat the likes of Sean O’Malley, Umar Nurmagomedov, Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan and Jose Aldo in his last five fights; a strength of competition almost unparalleled among UFC champions today — and in that run, Cruz says he sees a little bit of himself.

“This dude has run through the ladder,” Cruz stated. “This dude has had to fight up and down the ladder exactly the same way that I did. I had to fight my way through the hardest fights in the division, multiple rematches, before I got my shots. I had to earn every scrap, and I see that similarity in Merab’s fights. I tip my hat to him.”