After Daniel Cormier stopped Stipe Miocic via first round knockout to capture the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight title last Saturday (July 7, 2018) at UFC 226 in Las Vegas, Nevada, the debate as to who the greatest mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter of all time has really started to ramp up.
While adding to his ever-growing legacy as the newest “Champ Champ” is a highly-impressive feat, not everyone is quick to label “DC” the G.O.A.T. Among them is former UFC women’s Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, who told TMZ Sports that while there is no question Cormier is the greatest in the game today, putting the G.O.A.T. tag on someone will always be up for debate.
A visibly exhausted Rousey broke it all down:
“Saying right now and G.O.A.T. is kind of contradictory because one is all time and one means right now. So, it doesn’t make sense to be the G.O.A.T. right now. I think right now, he is the best in the game right now. I’d say so for sure. He is well-rounded, Olympic team captain; you don’t get that kind of position for nothing.”
While Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Demetrious Johnson and even Fedor Emelianenko have always been in the conversation thanks to everything they’ve accomplished in the fight game, none of them have ever held two separate division titles simultaneously for UFC.
Only Cormier and Conor McGregor have accomplished that.
Nevertheless, Cormier can indeed cement his status as the G.O.A.T. if he successfully defends both his Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight titles before he calls it a career in the next seven months.
Should he do that successfully — possibly against Mauricio Rua and Brock Lesnar — he will ride off into the sunset as the sole member in that club.
Right?