Can a woman be the GOAT?

IMO, when comparing men and women sports figures, they should always be seperated. I think it is unfair to both parties to compare the two.

For example, look at Serena Williams. She is going to shatter every single tennis record/milestone that exists. But is it fair to put her above Federer, Sampras, Nadal, etc., solely based on accolades? On the flip side, is it fair to belittle Serena's achievements by pointing out that she would probably struggle to be a top 100 player in the men's tour? IMO, neither are fair.

There should be seperate categories for greatest men and greatest women.
 
Edit: Couldn't get through what I was trying to say well

You can be the greatest woman of all time. But not the greatest fighter of all time unless you've proven yourself against an equitably high level of competition to the greatest male fighters skill for skill, something which isn't currently possible and may never be

Therefore, for now at least I think women need to be given their own separate GOAT conversation

Not sure who takes it but I guess you have to throw Cyborg, JJ, Ronda, and Amanda in there for now

Rose and Shevchenko have shots if they can put together a big title run
 
superpunch said:
If a WMMA fighter has a spectacular career and finishes all her opponents undefeated, can she be considered the greatest fighter of all time? Or is that a title restricted to men only? Why?

I don't think that a woman can be considered a great fighter or the best fighter in the world. I feel the same way about 125 lb men. It's hard to think of them in the same category as the great men like Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, GSP, etc. If you're 5'3" or a woman then you just can not be in that category.
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It's easy to determine the GOAT for an individual division, and given that women have individual divisions (which are separate from mens') then one could make the case for a GOAT of that division to exist. However, I don't believe in P4P discussions, because there's no such thing as a P4P division.

For example: Rousey is the GOAT at Women's Bantamweight and Joanna is the GOAT at Women's Strawweight. Cyborg popped twice and over 2/3 of her opponents were Bantamweights and Flyweights, so I don't even bother including her (or her division) in the discussion.
 
FlloydMayweatherMMA said:
The best ever should, in my opinion, be the favourite to win against whoever it is they're facing, no matter what weight. Therefore it's hard for anyone lower than MW to be in the discussion.

Take GSP or DJ for example, their achievements in terms of championship level fights won should single them out as the best MMA fighters ever. But they aren't, because heavyweights would knock their block off.
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This is why we coined the term Pound for Pound GOAT.
 
BigMuffler said:
Prime Ronda could still beat Cain.
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Under the right circumstances

Being larger and a man Cain should do the right thing and meet her at 135 for the fight.

That means Ronda vs Cain with no legs and one arm. Great matchup for Ronda imo since he still has an arm attached for the armbar

Ronda by arm bar in under 1 minute
 
To be the best you have to beat the best.

Beating a bunch of soccer moms who are two years removed from a boxercise class does not make you a GOAT.
 
Workaholic said:
Being larger and a man Cain should do the right thing and meet her at 135 for the fight.

That means Ronda vs Cain with no legs and one arm. Great matchup for Ronda imo since he still has an arm attached for the armbar
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Actually for Cain he could come in with both arms and both legs. He would just have to lose that giant head. That's gotta be 100 lbs right there.
 
As one of the biggest supporters of the women's divisions on here, I say no. They don't belong in the p4p rankings with the men, either.
 
Yeah why not GOAT has basically been killed by now, too many claimed as GOAT, particularly on here.
We couldn't even agree on a Greatest this last couple of years. Who really cares, I just want less interim belts and more champions fighting the best challengers at the moment. Less ducking and hopefully less injuries, not really concern with people claiming GOAT
 
No

Remember when the so called GOAT female kickboxer Lucia Rijker got KTFO by a midget (male) amateur Muay Thai fighter?
 
FlloydMayweatherMMA said:
The best ever should, in my opinion, be the favourite to win against whoever it is they're facing, no matter what weight. Therefore it's hard for anyone lower than MW to be in the discussion.

Take GSP or DJ for example, their achievements in terms of championship level fights won should single them out as the best MMA fighters ever. But they aren't, because heavyweights would knock their block off.
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Just because you can't beat everyone, in every category, doesn't mean you can't be the GOAT. Seriously, that's one of the dumbest shit I have ever heard.

It's like if I said, Heavyweights can't be GOAT because they aren't well rounded enough. They rely mostly on strength and don't have much endurance.

Weight classes exist for a reason.

The GOAT discussion is a never ending debate. But if we were to call someone the GOAT, the criteria would have to be, how good of a fighter that guy is, how well rounded he is, the level of competition he had, longetivity etc...

There are so many factors.

We are talking about the GREATEST FIGHTER not the biggest fighter.

Of course the 6"4 guy weighing 240+ pounds will beat mostly anyone under 200 pounds. Doesn't make him the greatest or the most talented fighter. He's just big.
 
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FlloydMayweatherMMA said:
The best ever should, in my opinion, be the favourite to win against whoever it is they're facing, no matter what weight. Therefore it's hard for anyone lower than MW to be in the discussion.

Take GSP or DJ for example, their achievements in terms of championship level fights won should single them out as the best MMA fighters ever. But they aren't, because heavyweights would knock their block off.
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No MW is beating every HW. None, zero. Jacare, Silva, Weidman, Romero, Rockhold would all get the living shit beat out of them by the best HWs of all time.

LHW/HW only by that logic.
 
chinarice said:
No MW is beating every HW. None, zero. Jacare, Silva, Weidman, Romero, Rockhold would all get the living shit beat out of them by the best HWs of all time.
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But Hendo wouldn't ;)
 
Only if the depth and quality of competition is equal, and even then it's subjective.
 
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