The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), is the reigning champion when it comes to mixed martial arts (MMA). Everybody asks: Who is the greatest of all time (GOAT)? It’s not an easy question to answer.
There are so many factors and things to look at, and it makes the most sense to break it down into these categories — who they beat, how many belts they won, how many times they defended the belt, how many times they lost and did they use performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).
The four people that most people consider the GOAT of the UFC are Georges St-Pierre, Demetrius Johnson, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Jon Jones.
First, we have Georges St-Pierre. He beat a lot of the best welterweights, including B.J. Penn, Matt Serra, Matt Hughes and one of the best middleweights of all time, Michael Bisping. St-Pierre won two belts, becoming the welterweight and middleweight champion by the end of his career. He defended the belts nine times in total. St-Pierre lost two times in his career, and he avenged both of his losses. He never failed a drug test and always advocated for not using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).
Demetrious Johnson is the second up. Some consider him the most skilled MMA fighter to ever walk this Earth. He beat Joseph Benavidez II, Adriano Moraes II, Ray Borg, Henry Cejudo I, and John Dodson II. These were some of the best fighters in the weight class. He won the belt and defended the belt 11 times, which is tied for first with Jon Jones. Johnson lost four times in his career to Brad Pickett, Henry Cejudo, Dominick Cruz, and Adriano Moraes. These also were some of the best fighters in their division, as well, and he avenged the Adriano Moraes fight twice. Johnson never failed a drug test and was very against PEDs.
Khabib Nurmagomedov beat a couple of the best lightweights — Justin Gaethje, Edson Barboza, Conor McGregor, and Dustin Poirier. Nurmagomedov won one belt in his UFC career. He has three title defenses. His biggest accomplishment is that he never lost in his whole career, something very few can say they did. He never failed a drug test, but there are rumors that he would use PEDs.
Jon Jones beat some of the best light-heavyweights of all time and two of the best heavyweights of all time. But a big problem with who he beat is — he might have actually lost to Dominick Reyes. Many would have scored that fight for Reyes because Reyes arguably won the first three rounds. Jon has beat some of the best, but he has some questionable wins. Jones has won two belts — the light-heavyweight and heavyweight belts, so he’s a double champ. Most people on this list are, so he doesn’t really stand out in that category.
When we look at the stats listed, we see that it can’t be Nurmagomedov. His biggest accomplishment was never losing, but he lacks in title defenses and lacks in hard fights. That alone takes him out of the running for GOAT.
Next we have Johnson, who might be the best skill-wise, but he lacks in never winning two belts. And when he tried, he got destroyed by Dominick Cruz. He also didn’t fight the best people in the flyweight division. He would need to fight more skilled people to show that he really is the GOAT.
Next we have Jon Jones, who most people think is the GOAT, who shouldn’t even be considered in the top three. It may sound crazy, but the fact that he failed multiple PED’s tests shows he cheated. All of his accomplishments should not matter because he didn’t follow the rules of the game. Cheating is one of the worst things you can do in MMA because you are giving yourself an unfair advantage over your opponent and can cause irreparable physical damage. Yes, he did win two belts and was tied for title defenses, but we will never know if the cheating allowed him to be that good.
Now we are at the person who has some of the best wins and also held two belts — Georges St-Pierre, who is the true GOAT of the UFC. He avenged his two losses and being a champion doesn’t mean you never lose. A champion picks themself up, keeps going and gets better and better. That is Georges St-Pierre. He never gave up or quit when he lost, instead he climbed back up and won again. That makes him the GOAT.
