5 reasons why Khabib Nurmagomedov is the GOAT

#5 The pretenders to the throne

Georges St-Pierre of Canada

The debate of the GOAT in any sport is often the most controversial one. Whether it is Michael Jordan vs Lebron James in basketball or Pele vs Diego Maradona in football (or Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi depending upon which generation you belong to), arguments can often be made for or against each athlete.

However, Khabib's dominance in his fighting career leaves the other pretenders to the throne substantially short.

Fedor Emelianenko, once considered by many to represent the pinnacle of the sport, lost to Dan Henderson and Fabrício Werdum in what can be considered his prime.

Jon Jones, if you agree with Dana White and ignore the illegal elbows that cost him the Matt Hamill fight, is still undefeated. However, there are several asterisks to his record due to the PED violations and the extremely close fights against Alexander Gustafsson, Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes.

Many even felt Dominick Reyes won his fight against Jon Jones.

Anderson Silva was untouchable in his prime but never recovered from that loss to Chris Weidman. Add in the the PED violations of his own, and his claim loses luster.

The only person who comes close to competing with Khabib for the GOAT status is probably Georges St-Pierre.

Thus a fight between the two would have been massive if it was to happen.

However, with both fighters now retired, we would be remiss if we didn't give the edge in the argument to the undefeated fighter who 'smeshed everybody' and left us wanting much much more.