Say what you like about Conor McGregor, but the man does not lack confidence. After a conversation arose about MMA GOATS on Twitter, he decided to emphatically make his case. Of course, other fighters and fans ridiculed his audacious claims, but that’s all part of the fun, right?
The idea of a GOAT in MMA is a bit ridiculous anyway because the sport is so young. Almost all of the fighters have some sort of asterisk beside their name. That could be for doping violations (Jones, Silva), not fighting in the UFC (Fedor), a lack of serious competition (Mighty Mouse).
So that leaves GSP and if we had to pick one, then ‘Rush’ is the man. It’s still a bit early for Khabib. Anyway, it makes more sense to have divisional GOATs then a pound-for-pound one, at least at this early stage? Check out McGregor’s perspective below.
I’m the GOAT
McGregor went on a lengthy rant about why he is at least the second GOAT in the UFC. He gave Anderson Silva first billing but said that he was definitely going to be number one by the end of his career. Then he called out Jon Jones and Georges St. Pierre for their safety-first based approaches.
“GOAT THREAD.
The array of finishes, across 2 divisions, with champion status in 1, Anderson Silva is No.1 MMA GOAT.
My array of finishes, across 3 divisions, with champion status in 2, I’m No.2. If not tied 1.
However still active, No.1 is fully secured by career end. And easily.”
Needless to say, this got the MMA world talking. McGregor hasn’t defended any of his titles. Furthermore, he’s not exactly the most active fighter on the roster these days. He’s got a long way to go to be considered a lightweight GOAT, nevermind overall.
Stockton Baby
It’s easy to forget that Nate Diaz is still alive but yes, he is. The Stockton native reminded everybody how he stunned the world in his first meeting with McGregor. While he did lose the rematch, he still has the high ground of being able to say he inflicted the Notorious’s first UFC loss. He wrote:
“Smoked the #1 p4p and double champ know the real GOAT when you see him. And don’t forget I did it better and quicker than anyone else on the ground and sent him down with punches quicker than Mayweather did so f**k alll y’all rankings and know a real goat when you see me.”
Khabib Time
Khabib obviously despises McGregor. He went in hard on the Irishman on Twitter. First of all, he attacked McGregor’s ground game. Then he targeted the Irishman’s lack of title defenses. Next under the microscope was his online antics. As roastings go, this was spicy. He wrote:
“you tapped out in featherweight, you tapped out in lightweight and you tapped in welterweight, you never defended title in the UFC or Cage Warriors, you gave up more than GSP, Spider and Bones all together.
you greatest @ufc fighter in twitter history.”
