On episode #1696 of The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), Lex Fridman claimed that Lionel Messi was the greatest of all time (GOAT). He went on to add that he believed Cristiano Ronaldo is nowhere near the Argentinian when it comes to the GOAT debate.
The 41-year-old acknowledged that the rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo is a hugely divisive topic. He, however, added that he wouldn't put Cristiano Ronaldo in his top 5 list of greatest soccer players.
He said:
"I think the Brazilian Ronaldo is better than Cristiano. But Cristiano is much better looking, he's much harder working, and he's an incredible soccer player, one of the greatest ever, just not in the top five for me. Messi moves like nothing I have ever seen, and this is, a lot of people agree on this. It's just moments of genius unlike anybody else, this, everybody agrees on."
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At the time, Messi had just won the Copa America Trophy, which Fridman stated solidified his status as the greatest. Per Fridman, critics often pointed out Messi's failure to win international trophies with his less decorated national team, while he had massive success with a star-studded Barcelona football club.
Check out Lex Fridman's comments on Joe Rogan Experience below (1:12):
Joe Rogan gave MMA's equivalent of Lionel Messi to Lex Fridman
On the same episode, Fridman asked Joe Rogan who he would consider the equivalent of Messi in MMA. The veteran UFC commentator quickly replied it was Demetrious 'Mighty Mouse' Johnson. Rogan said:
"Might Mouse in his prime was the greatest I've ever seen. Anderson Silva was fantastic in his prime, no doubt about it. But Mighty Mouse, the only problem with Mighty Mouse is that he's in a weight class that's very small. There's not a lot of guys that weigh 125 pounds, so there's not the same talent pool that Anderson Silva dealt with." (2:57 onwards)
After hearing Rogan's thoughts, Fridman added that he believed the UFC commentator would have picked Anderson 'The Spider' Silva. Rogan added:
"Anderson Silva dealt with much more danger in terms of one-punch strikers. But, you know, the argument could be made that Anderson Silva, when he was at the top, is the greatest of all time. And then the argument could be made that Mighty Mouse is the greatest of all time. Mighty Mouse just destroyed people."