"It's tough to pick just four" - Royce Gracie picks his UFC Mount Rushmore, leaves out Khabib Nurmagomedov

Royce Gracie recently weighed in on the ongoing UFC Mount Rushmore debate and shared his own list that had a notable omission in Khabib Nurmagomedov.

While speaking to SPORTbible, the UFC Hall of Famer shared his thoughts on who deserves to be in a UFC Mount Rushmore and included himself for obvious reasons as he is the only fighter to have won three UFC tournaments despite being smaller than his opponents. He mentioned that the fighters he selected dominated their respective division more than once.

He said:

"It's a tough question, there's so many good fighters...I'd say [Georges] St-Pierre is up there. Anderson Silva - he cleaned out the [middleweight] division twice...I will put myself up there...Jon Jones - he cleaned out the [light heavyweight] division twice." [h/t SPORTbible]

The UFC 1 tournament winner brought up Jon Jones as a then explained why he wouldn't include Khabib Nurmagomedov despite the former lightweight champion retiring with an undefeated record. He mentioned that it's difficult to narrow the list down to four, so he's not slighting 'The Eagle's impact and success, saying:

"There's so many good names. Khabib [Nurmagomedov] just retired. Undefeated, it's tough to pick just four." [h/t SPORTbible]

Royce Gracie's UFC Mount Rushmore list is proof that the ongoing debate will always be subjective as every's respective criteria is different.

SPORTbible tweet regarding UFC Mount Rushmore

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Royce Gracie shares first impression of Ken Shamrock

Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock played an important role in the UFC's popularity during the 1990s as they both competed in the inaugural tournament.

In a UFC 1 reunion roundtable uploaded to the promotion's YouTube channel, the Hall of Famers shared what their first impressions were of one another. The revelation led to a hilarious moment as the Jiu-Jitsu practitioner mentioned that he was impressed when he saw 'The World's Most Dangerous Man's physique, saying:

"I heard stories of you [Ken Shamrock] punching hard and there was no gloves. I was like, man, I saw your size - chiseled - built like the Greek God over there...Man, when I grow up, I wanna be just like him...Just like Greek God, man." [33:45 - 34:02]