The greatest of all time conversation continues, as Dana White weighs with his latest opinion. In a interview with TMZ, the UFC president was asked the age old question, who is the MMA GOAT. Whilst Dana White has previously eluded to Khabib Nurmagamedov being the front runner for GOAT status in his opinion, he now seems to be leaning towards Jon Jones.
The interview took place in a speed round format, where White was grilled with a multitude of MMA related questions. He was first asked “who do you think is the greatest UFC fighter of all time?” White replied after some consideration with “Jon Jones.” However, when asked “who is the best UFC fighter right now”, White this time went with “Khabib.”
White has also previously dubbed Anderson Silva as the GOAT, however lacklustre performances later on in ‘The Spider’s’ career have likely ruled him out of the conversation by now. Jon Jones and Khabib both have impressive resumes, and are both essentially undefeated. There is admittedly some controversy with both fighters in that regard. Jones technically has a loss on his record, as he was DQ’d in a fight against Matt Hamill for illegal elbows. He also won a controversial decision against Dominick Reyes, which many scored the other way. Alternatively, Khabib holds an incredible 29-0 record, although he did have a slightly fortuitous win over Gleison Tibau, back in his early days of fighting for the UFC.
However both men have left such a legacy on their divisions that they deserve all the praise that is there to be had. With Jon Jones currently planning a move up to Heavyweight, he may have the option to solidify his status of greatest of all time once and for all. Should he take the Heavyweight belt from either Francis Ngannou or Stipe Miocic, few would argue against granting him the moniker of UFC GOAT.
Do you agree with Dana White? Who do you think is the UFC GOAT?