UFC legend and former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion of the world Georges St-Pierre has finally revealed his pick for MMA GOAT.
While speaking to UFC.com, he considered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend and former UFC fighter Royce Gracie as the ultimate MMA GOAT. Georges St-Pierre also said that the debate around MMA GOAT is a subjective topic.
By many fans in the MMA circuit, Georges St-Pierre is considered as the All-Time Great, but in the UFC interview, he said that there were many deciding factors to consider in the debate.
“What does being the best of all time mean?” St-Pierre said. “If it’s to compare every athlete who competed at their time and who was the most dominant at their time, who had the most achievements, for me it’s Royce Gracie. If you talk about who’s the strongest guy, if you would put everybody in the cage, who would come out alive, I think it would maybe be Fedor Emelianenko in his prime. If you talk about the more flamboyant guy, the one who did some crazy stuff that you only see in movies and stuff like that, I would say maybe a guy like Anderson Silva or Vitor Belfort. If you say the more well-rounded guy, I would say maybe Demetrious Johnson. If you ask about who’s the guy who faced the most adversity, maybe Jon Jones. But whoever you name, it’s a subjective thing, it’s an opinion.”
Georges St-Pierre: MMA Fighters will continue to get better as the sport evolves
Georges St-Pierre said that as the sport of MMA grows and attains maturity, the fighters will continue to get better. But for now, he thinks Royce Gracie is the GOAT.
“There’s a lot of guys for different reasons who could be considered a GOAT, and there are pros and cons, but I truly believe it does not exist, because if you talk about who’s the best, I think the best has not even been born yet,” Georges St-Pierre explained. “Royce Gracie, as magnificent as he was, he was the number one guy and he achieved things that still today have not been achieved – if you would put him in the cage against the competition today and ask how he would do, he would not do well because the sport has changed. The technology has become better.
“I remember when I wanted to learn jiu-jitsu, I needed to drive to New York and be in the class to learn an armbar or a choke,” St-Pierre added. “Now you can learn it in two minutes watching on the internet by a guy who lives in a different country from you. So the technology makes the performance better. The best example of that is, look at sports where you can measure things. For example, sprinting. Usain Bolt is the fastest man that ever lived that we know of because we have the evidence to prove it. It’s the same thing in all the Olympic sports you can measure. However, you cannot measure fighting because it’s one guy against another guy, and there’s no instrument of measure that you can have to compare.” (H/T – BJPenn.com)
Who do you guys think is the MMA GOAT? Let us know in the comments section below.
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