Conor McGregor and controversy go hand-in-hand together, and the former ‘double champ’ caused controversy this week by publishing a series of tweets which discussed who the fighter sees as the ‘top dogs’, so to say, in the UFC.
McGregor listed Anderson Silva as his “No.1 MMA GOAT” and placed himself second, although, pondered on whether he should be tied first with Silva.
He then further listed George St-Pierre in third and Jon Jones in fourth, which was all he listed.
When asked by a fan where he would rank Khabib, McGregor replied: “Fancy record, but a way to go before any GOAT entry.”
He also added that the Russian’s only highlight was when he fought him, which he claims he was hungover for, as well as having a broken foot.
This got us thinking, who does Khabib see as MMA’s best competitors?
Luckily for us, whilst being interviewed by CBS Sports in March, Khabib answered this question.
The interviewer asks the current undefeated lightweight whether his main goal was to become the greatest fighter of all time and retire undefeated, which Khabib replied: “Whether I’m the greatest of all time, I don’t know.”
He then lists the fighters which he sees as some of MMA’s best.
“We have Jon Jones, Fedor (Emelianenko)."We have Demetrious Johnson, we have Henry Cejudo, we have DC (Daniel Cormier), Anderson Silva and a lot of guys.”
Khabib certainly seems to remain humble at all time. If Khabib manages to keep up his undefeated streak of dominant wins, there is no doubt that he will become an MMA GOAT, and if he is extremely lucky, he might even make McGregor’s list!
Unfortunately, due to coronavirus, Khabib was unable to fight against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249, in a fight that was much awaited by UFC fans.
However, with Ferguson losing to Justin Gaethje, Khabib’s replacement, it is unlikely that we will ever see that bout happen now.
What this now means is we can expect Khabib to take on Gaethje in his next fight, which should be nothing short of entertaining. Gaethje refused the interim lightweight title after his win over Ferguson and stated that he will “wait for the real thing.”