Retired welterweight Ben Askren has named seven fighters who he believes should be seen as the greatest in mixed martial arts history. The former ONE and Bellator champion has revealed his list in response to Conor McGregor who caused an uproar when he released his own list this past weekend.
‘Notorious’ ranked Anderson Silva as the best of all-time. The Brazilian knockout artist was closely followed by McGregor himself. Next up was Georges St-Pierre in third place and current light-heavyweight king Jon Joes was in the fourth and final spot.
Askren took to social media to reveal the seven fighters who he believes to be the best off all-time, he wrote.
“7 People in discussion for MMA GOAT. Some have much better cases than others, but all have cases. Fedor [Emelianenko] and BJ [Penn] would have had cases had they retired earlier. GSP [Georges St Pierre], Anderson [Silva], DJ [Demetrious Johnson], Khabib [Nurmagomedov], Jon Jones DC [Daniel Cormier], and Henry [Cejudo].”
While Askren has covered pretty much all the great fighters worthy of the accolade of GOAT, one particular name is missing from the list. Former dual weight champion McGregor who started the GOAT debate has clearly not done enough to earn his place as an MMA great in the eyes of Askren. His bitter rival Khabib Nurmagomedov has though, as have Daniel Cormier, Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson and Henry Cejudo who were also left off of McGregor’s GOAT list.
Do you think the Ben Askren GOAT list is better or worse than Conor McGregor’s?