Dana White has given his verdict on the MMA’s greatest of all time
debate.
Advertisement
Former lightweight champion Khabib
Nurmagomedov and reigning heavyweight champion Jon Jones are
arguably the two frontrunners in the race for the MMA GOAT along
with others like Demetrious
Johnson and Anderson
Silva. For White, however, there is no question Jones holds the
No. 1 spot. “Bones,” who made 13 successful defenses of the light
heavyweight belt, returned from a lengthy hiatus to claim the
heavyweight crown with a first-round submission of Ciryl Gane
at UFC 285. Jones career record stands at 27-1 with one no contest,
but his lone defeat was a controversial disqualification loss to
Matt
Hamill.
“He’s never been beat,” White told Lex Fridman. “He destroyed everyone at
light heavyweight, which at the time was the toughest weight class
in the company, in the sport. And then he moved up to heavyweight,
won easily at heavyweight. And when you look at the guy and you
look at what he was doing outside of the Octagon at the same time,
which shouldn’t be part of it, shouldn’t be part of the equation.
But when you do, wow. You can hate him all you want, Jon Jones is
the greatest of all time.”
Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov retired from the sport with a perfect 29-0
record, which included 13 UFC appearances. “The Eagle” retired from
the sport after defending his strap for the third time at UFC 254
in 2020, keeping his promise to his mother to not fight after the
death of his father. While White acknowledged Nurmagomedov as one
of the leading contenders in the GOAT debate, he believes the
Dagestani icon retired too soon.
“I think Khabib had the potential to be in the running for that, he
just didn’t stick around,” White said. “First of all, he had
injuries that you know… He should have been where he got a lot
sooner had he not had the injuries that he had and the setbacks in
his career but there’s no doubt, Khabib is one of the all-time
greats.”