In the mid-2010s, after the UFC had reached the drinking age of 21, the MMA GOAT discussion burned with white-hot intensity. There were essentially three strong convictions at the time, with a few Ross Perot types that might steal a ballot of two.
Those three names were Georges St-Pierre (who retired in 2017), Anderson Silva (who last fought in the UFC in 2020) and Jon Jones (who retires far more often than he fights).
Demetrious Johnson, the lord of the flyweights who quietly went about breaking all of Anderson Silva’s records, was essentially Perot in such arguments. A radical token pick that hipsters would roll out as a thoughtful counter to the consensus. The oldheads might argue for Fedor Emelianenko or B.J. Penn or Randy or Chuck, but they were quickly put in their place.
The game was different in the aughts.
After the UFC turned 30 and began to settle down, new names entered the conversation. Now we have Khabib Nurmagomedov in the center of the discussion, on the strength of his 29-0 record. He last fought in 2020. Even his protégé, Islam Makhachev, is getting some love when engaging in GOAT talks, though he is still active and therefore an incomplete entry. Outliers may throw Daniel Cormier’s name in there as an honorable mention, or Alexander Volkanovski, but there is a need to squint in these scenarios, or in the very least to stand aside until the arguer exhausts himself.
I bring all this up because I saw that Michael Chiesa, in a recent interview with MMA Junkie, suggested Alex Pereira would be MMA’s GOAT if he were to beat Ciryl Gane on June 14 at the UFC’s big White House event. At first I scoffed at that idea, given the aforementioned company. Then I began to wonder — wait, is he onto something?
This is what Chiesa said exactly:
“If he beats Ciryl Gane, without a doubt he’s No. 1. You could make the argument if Alex Pereira — I don’t care if you want to split hairs over the undisputed championship or the interim championship, if you want to split hairs on that, that’s on you. But if someone can capture three UFC belts in three different weight classes, you have thrust yourself into the conversation as greatest of all time. Not of the decade, we’re talking all time.
“He’s one win away from going to the top of an ultra-prestigious, very controversial list.”
Of course, splitting hairs is an art form on MMA Reddit boards. That’s to be expected when discussing GOAT status in the first place. But let’s split some hairs here, because — as Chiesa mentions — what “Poatan” is attempting has never been done, even if the word “interim” appears on the promotional poster.
Does a victory over Gane bump him to GOAT status? Or is Chiesa oversimplifying things with that ordination? Or do we have to measure title defenses, in-cage dominance, length of reign and strength of opponent?
Let’s break down the cases for the legitimate contenders for MMA GOAT:
Alex Pereira
Pereira had a great run as a middleweight, going 4-1 including a title-winning victory over nemesis Israel Adesanya, yet he also lost the title back to Adesanya in his last middleweight appearance. In other words, he didn’t exactly roll into the light heavyweight division in the pursuit of history. Yet he made it anyway, beating Jan Blachowicz in his adjustment fight, and then taking home the vacant 205-pound title at UFC 295 against Jiří Procházka.
He defended the title three times — each under dramatic circumstances (UFC 300 when it needed a star, UFC 303 after Conor McGregor fell out, UFC 307 for his third defense in 2024). Then he lost the title to Magomed Ankalaev before avenging that loss seven months later.
Now he makes the move to heavyweight under unusual circumstances, fighting Gane for the interim title because champion Tom Aspinall is recovering from eye surgery.
The Pereira File: 13-3 overall MMA record, 10-2 in the UFC. Held titles at both middleweight (no title defenses) and light heavyweight (three title defenses).
Pros for Pereira as GOAT: Could become the first three-division champion, which is historic. And significant. He also dethroned Israel Adesanya at the height of Izzy’s run and made mincemeat of most opponents he faced as a light heavyweight.
Cons for Pereira: With Pereira’s run at light heavyweight occurring in the post-Jones era, and now his heavyweight foray happening with Aspinall and Jones out of the equation, it feels a little like he’s partying while the landlords are away. Also, he’s lost twice in a dozen UFC fights in five years.
Pereira’s GOAT status: If you value the three divisional titles over longevity and in-cage dominance, “Poatan” deserves consideration. If not, he is the circumstantial GOAT, which is a GOAT that walks around wearing horseshoes.
Now back to the standards.
Georges St-Pierre
It was no small feat for GSP to rule the welterweight division for a full six years – running his own ass-kicking log from 2007-13, when he won a dozen fights in a row, including nine title defenses. Yes, you could argue he lost to Johny Hendricks in his final defense, and you’d be heard, but — as if to quiet those negative Nancy’s — St-Pierre came back four years after vacating his welterweight title to beat Michael Bisping to win the middleweight title.
He vacated that one 33 days later.
The GSP File: 26-2 overall MMA record, 21-2 in the UFC. Held titles at both welterweight (nine title defenses) and middleweight (no title defenses).
Pros for GSP: He didn’t lose for the last 10 years and seven months of his career, which is a nearly impossible feat. The nine title defenses were crazy, too, given that welterweight always had a strong cast of contenders. To be on top as long as he was and to leave on his own terms (without losing at the end) makes a strong case for him. To top all that off, he never tested positive for an illegal substance.
Cons for GSP: He didn’t perform as well against Matts — as Matt Hughes got him at UFC 50, and Matt Serra scored the biggest upset in MMA history by beating GSP at UFC 69. Also, much as Pereira steps into an ideal setup for a third title, GSP came back 50 pay-per-views later against a one-eyed Bisping who was on borrowed time. Before St-Pierre beat Bisping at UFC 217, it had been eight years since he’d finished anybody.
And, I mean … it did look like he lost that fight to Hendricks. Lucky for him two of the three judges didn’t think so.
GSP’s GOAT status: Based on the longevity of his title run, it’s easy to refer to him as the king of the barnyard animals.
Anderson Silva
The case for Anderson Silva is rooted to his first 16 fights in the UFC, from 2006-13, all of which he won. It wasn’t only his win streak that grew, it was his title defenses as the middleweight champion (10 total defenses), his aura (three successful cameos at light heavyweight) and his entourage (Steven Seagal and Usher spent time in the Spider’s Web). The stakes would grow with each fight, and Silva would show up and do dramatic things — sometimes so dramatic as to border on performance art, as he displayed against Demian Maia at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi.
It gets more complicated toward the end of his career, when the L’s started showing up in number.
The Silva File: 34-11-(1) overall MMA record, 16-4-(1) in the UFC. Held the middleweight title from 2006-13 (10 defenses).
Pros for Silva: The 16-fight win streak and 10 middleweight title defenses make a pretty strong argument for his GOAT status. That he came back at UFC 117 to defeat Chael Sonnen with a Hail Mary triangle choke is the stuff of legend, and even his non-title fights — such as when he demolished Chris Leben to kick off his UFC career and his light heavyweight lark with Forrest Griffin, in which he turned into a witch — all pack nicely into the resume.
Cons for Silva: He did test positive for an anabolic steroid in his fight with Nate Diaz at UFC 183, which was a blow to his legacy (Diaz countered by testing positive for, of all things, pot). Though he ended up beating Sonnen the first time through, he was losing the first 9/10ths of the fight, which can be interpreted either as a heroic comeback or as a drubbing, depending on your POV. And those fights with Maia, Patrick Cote and Thiago Leites were closer to vaudeville.
Yet it’s the way Silva’s later career played out that found him dropping in status.
(The clowning that got him knocked out to bring the greatest run in UFC history to a close against Chris Weidman … the broken leg in the subsequent bout … the hot drug test against Diaz … the loss to Michael Bisping in England … the Cormier ragdoll session at UFC 200 … the mojo baton he passes to Adesnaya … the Cannonier defeat … Uriah freaking Hall … ugh.)
Silva’s GOAT status: If you concentrate on the first 16 fights, you’re looking at the GOAT. It was a combination of in-cage superiority and the length of the run. If you factor in everything else? Harder to quantify.
Jon Jones
One of the most complicated figures in UFC history, Jones is the Janus face of fighting. For as good as he’s been in the cage, he’s been a disaster out of it. Three times between 2015-17 Jones was stripped of the light heavyweight title for disciplinary actions (once for a felony hit-and-run, the other two for failed drug tests). To be stripped means he kept winning it back. And he won the heavyweight title, too, even though that run also carried a small handful of asterisks.
The Jones File: 28-1-(1)overall MMA record, 22-1-(1) in UFC. Three times held the light heavyweight title (11 total title defenses) and held the heavyweight title (1 title defense).
Pros for Jones: He is essentially undefeated, because let’s face it — that loss he was given against Matt Hamill was playing out like a snuff film. He became the youngest UFC champion at UFC 128 in 2011 and a decade-and-a-half later finds himself still on top. Or he was on top, until he retired (again) recently. The 12 total title defenses across light heavyweight (11) and heavyweight (1) are feats beyond measure. The fact that he beat Daniel Cormier (twice, though the second one was stricken for a bad drug test) is enough to keep him forever in the GOAT talks.
Cons for Jones: All the hit-and-runs and arrests in his everyday life aside, those drug tests have a way of tarnishing a legacy. So do stories of hiding under a cage when those dastardly testers came poking around Albuquerque. When people exclude Jones from the GOAT convo, it’s because they automatically exclude drug cheats, and Jones wears his red flags brighter than any other fighter. That he was able to beat Alexander Gustafsson in one of the best fights of all time in Toronto at UFC 165 after partying throughout his camp is either a testament to his prowess or his own self-destruction.
And I mean … it did look like he lost that fight to Dominick Reyes. Lucky for him the Texas judges didn’t think so.
Jones’s GOAT status: Based on record and longevity as an indestructible force, Jones will always have a claim to the throne. Yet the asterisks weigh down the arguments of his staunchest advocates, the most vocal of which happened to be Dana White for the longest time.
(Dana was seen hopping off the Jones bandwagon late last year, when his champion went back on a verbal agreement to unify the title against Aspinall.)
Khabib Nurmagomedov
Khabib perhaps did what all fighters dream of. That is come in, conquer the sport, make a pile of money and get the hell out with a perfect record. He went 29-0 as a professional fighter and stopped one short of 30 due to the passing of his father/mentor Abdulmanap. It was big news when he lost a single round (and it only happened twice in his career). The only regret in what is a stunningly successful run is that he never got to fight Tony Ferguson, who was the right kind of madcap — a man whose body became a propellor of demonic blades — to give him a fight.
The Nurmagomedov File: 29-0 overall MMA record, 12-0 in the UFC. Held the lightweight title (three title defenses).
Pros for Khabib: The fact that he didn’t lose rounds looms large. That points out just how big the gulf was between him and the nearest competitor. Winning the title, as he did at UFC 219 against Al Iaquinta, felt like a foregone conclusion. His title defenses against Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, all felt like easy layups. In terms of pure domination, Khabib rules.
Cons for Khabib: The only thing you can point out on Khabib is the strength of schedule. He beat Iaquinta for the title (which was meant to be Ferguson), which wasn’t the epic coronation it could have been. Before then he was beating guys like Michael Johnson and Darrell Horcher and Pat Healy, not the greatest shakes in the 155-pound division. It could be seen as a detriment, too, that Khabib had no real interest in pursuing a second title at welterweight. He was content to rule the lightweight division.
Nurmagomedov’s GOAT status: Very much intact, given that A) he never lost, B) he was never close to losing, and C) he continues to dominate as a coach, now for his apprentice Islam Makhachev and many others.
Would winning a historic third division title deliver Pereira to GOAT status, as Chiesa suggested? The argument could be made depending on what you value most in this theoretical discussion, but in my mind he’d need to unify the heavyweight title against Aspinall to earn any such distinction, and even then it’ll be hard to top the likes of St-Pierre or Nurmagomedov.
