The term “Greatest of all time” has been thrown around more than ever over the last few years with UFC fans and MMA journalists alike having their own say as to who they believe is the Greatest Pound-For-Pound fighter is on the planet. With the UFCs female Bantamweight & Featherweight divisions being ran dominantly by Current UFC Double Champion, Amanda Nunes, there is no discussion as to who the Greatest female fighter is of all time with Nunes claiming wins over the likes of Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, Valentina Shevchenko (2x), Holly Holm and Miesha Tate.
Throughout time, almost every UFC division has had a dominant champion run their division from Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson racking up 11 consecutive UFC Flyweight defenses to José Aldo going undefeated in the WEC and UFCs Featherweight division for over a decade to Stipe Miocic being the most accomplished UFC Heavyweight champion of all time after beating the best of the best to claim the most consecutive UFC Heavyweight title defenses with 3. Although these Former and Current UFC champions are in the list as some of the Greatest of all time, the biggest debates have been regarding;
- Current UFC Light-Heavyweight champion, Jon “Bones” Jones (26 Wins, 1 Loss, 1 No Contest), Record for most UFC Light-Heavyweight title defenses (12). With notable wins over the likes of; Daniel Cormier, Alexander Gustaffson (2x), Rampage Jackson, Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Ryan Bader, Thiago Santos, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans and Shogun Rua.
- Former UFC Middleweight champion, Anderson “The Spider” Silva (34 Wins, 10 Loses, 1 No Contest), Record for the most UFC Middleweight title defenses (10). With notable wins over top UFC competitors such as; Chael Sonnen (2x), Vitor Belfort, Rich Franklin (2x), Dan Henderson, Patrick Côté, Forrest Griffin, Demian Maia, Stephan Bonnar & Derek Brunson.
- Former UFC Welterweight and Former UFC Middleweight champion, Georges “Rush” St-Pierre (26 Wins, 2 loses), Record for the most consecutive UFC Welterweight title defenses (9). In this time GSP defeated the likes of; Johny Hendricks, Carlos Condit, Micheal Bisping, Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, BJ Penn (2x), Dan Hardy, Jon Fitch, Matt Serra, Matt Hughes (2x) and Josh Koscheck.
- Current UFC Lightweight champion, Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov (28 Wins, 0 Loses), Listed as the most dominant UFC Lightweight of all time and to further prove this, Khabib has beaten the likes of; Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, Al Iaquinta, Edson Barboza, Micheal Johnson, Rafael Dos Anjos and Gleison Tibau.
Jon Jones and Anderson Silva have both faced their fair share of controversy the last couple of years due to the introduction of the USADA testing pool catching both Jones and Silva in positive test results leaving fans putting asterisks next to both fighters resumes as well as their performances not being as dominant as they were prior to the USADA testing scheme. This leaves both Georges St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov being the only two competitors who have not only got an established and well accomplished career but neither competitor has ever had any controversy when it comes to drug tests either which could arguably make them the top two competitors of all time.
Khabib Nurmagomedovs father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov had planned out his sons last few bouts with the UFC before hanging up the gloves at an illustrious 30-0 with the original plan being that Khabibs last two opponents would be Tony Ferguson and then Georges St-Pierre but due to Tony Ferguson losing recently at UFC 249 to Justin Gaethje, “The Eagle” has recently been scheduled to face off with Gaethje at UFC 254 on October 24th. Sadly Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov passed away recently on the 3rd of July, 2020. Since then Khabib has briefly stated that if he defeats Justin Gaethje in October then he would like to face Georges St-Pierre in April 2021.
Building up on this statement, UFC President Dana White recently said that he was willing to give Nurmagomedov whatever fight he wanted to finish his career with. White stated:
“Sure I mean it’s the last fight of his career, the guy he’s been great to the company, great to the sport and I like Khabib a lot. I would do anything Khabib wanted to.”
As well as this, just as recent as this week following the UFCs most recent event in Las Vegas which saw UFC Middleweight Derek Brunson defeat Edmen Shahbazyan by third round TKO, Ariel Helwani and Daniel Cormier spoke on their podcast “DC & Helwani” about the possible matchup and Helwani announced that he had been in contact with GSP about the possibility of a bout with Nurmagomedov which left GSP respond by saying:
“Damn! Just when I thought I’d have peace of mind… I look forward to watching Khabib and Gaethje in October. Best of luck to them.”
This matchup could end up materializing quickly if Khabib can get through his toughest challenge to date in Justin Gaethje and then we may end up looking at a bout between two competitors to gain the right of being called “The Greatest Of All Time”.
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