His overall record of accomplishments place him above the vast majority of fighters in his division. Few guys have Askren's wrestling pedigree, and going undefeated in almost 20 MMA fights doesn't count for nothing, even if it largely came against lower tier talent.
How many "elite fighters" did Khabib beat in his first 15 or so matches? did that stop him from getting into the UFC?
don't act like Askren has beaten 'no one'...Lima is almost certainly a top 10 talent if he were in the UFC, and I would argue that Koreshkov likely cracks the top 10 too (USADA notwithstanding lol).
Askren is undeniably unproven against top-tier talent, but no one here is seriously claiming he is the GOAT...it is just that being 'unproven' hasn't stopped countless other fighters from at least getting into the UFC.