All Time GOAT poll

[Choco]

These are my disqualifyers:

-No blatant cheating in tittle shots. Ie. Towelgate of Greasegate.
-Never have tapped to strikes, specially as an champion against undeserving, smaller contenders.
-No (Double) Gyno.
-No TRT gut.
-No running from the sport after getting your ass kicked and gifted bulshit decision.
-No record padding against elderly undeserving champs that the Commission should've weeded out as not medically fit. Specially if you ducked the champ in said division for several years, and is "retired" for several years too.

 

[Koya]

Never having been busted for PEDS should be an obvious and non-controversial criteria

 

[Davidjacksonjones]

Either your name is GSP or it isn't

 

[Iroh]

For me it's GRIT and ability and will to finish fights at any second. That's why i always choose Anderson and Fedor.
Fate of the world will be decided at the Shan-Tsung's tournament? Send Spider or Emperor there.
With all due respect, we are unlikely to need someone like GSP in this case. We need MOFO's who are ready to kill and die.
So it goes.


Happy New Year sherbros. Be strong and noble like always and take care of yourself and your loved ones.

Bruh, I think your title should say criteria, instead of criterion. Even you name more than one criterion in your OP.

 

[haj02]

My personal vote goes to Jon Jones not only for his insane amount of title defences and being champ for so long, and wiping out 3 generations of fighters and going almost undefeated,but also for being what a true martial artist is about and always conducting himself with class and dignity and being a positive role model

There is no objective measure that doesn't lead to Saint Jon when we are discussing the GOAT. These conversations would benefit from a caveat of excluding Jon as there might be some actual debate then.

 

[Davidjacksonjones]

There is no objective measure that doesn't lead to Saint Jon when we are discussing the GOAT. These conversations would benefit from a caveat of excluding Jon as there might be some actual debate then.

Well said brother.
Jon Jones is on to more important things than being the greatest fighter ever.
He is fulfilling his true destiny and becoming our future Pope

Saint Jones bless

 

[Iroh]

Never having been busted for PEDS should be an obvious and non-controversial criteria

I'm not that hung up on it. I definitely hold it against a fighter, but the truth is we realy can never be sure if the opponent wasn't on something too. I know how testing works and there are a plethora of ways to get around testing. Chemistty is a very creative field and you can always create new ways to get around testing.

I also understand that contamination is a real thing. Though obviously it's also often used as an illegitimate excuse, it's still something that could easily truly happen IRL, too.
And I'm not gonna treat a postive result from someone who consumed the wrong substance unknowngly, the same as a positive result from someone who is doping under the guidance of someone who really understands what he is doing or the fighter might himself have done sufficient homework to know how to evade testing. So not all positive results are equally detrimental in the GOAT-assessment, IMO.

 

[DoubleTrouble]

1. Strength of opposition
2. Ability to finish/ level of dominance over opposition
3. Title defences

 

[DoubleTrouble]

Sample size is the only meassurement for greatness!

You cannot be considered GOAT it you had a micro career and moreover a micro prime with a hand full of fights! For example Cains prime consists of maybe 2-3 years where he had like 7-9 fights against 5 guys, so how in hell could anybody value this over someone like Anderson who had over 10 title defenses, not counting his way to the top?

Today we have a lot of fight fans and many of them chose their favorite fighter not on their results but because they feel somehow connected to them, either through nationality, race or culture and they try their best to justify why they think their guys are better than others, which results in them making up intangible criteria for goatness, like “never been cut” for example, which has nothing to with how anyone not having down syndrom should evaluate someonea career.

LMFAO Gold <45>

 

[aunshi189]

Dominance at the top of your division is my main criteria. Though being from the time I was more actually watching MMA is a pretty big point too.
I look at GOATness more in tiers. Tier One are people I consider legitimate picks, if you say Fedor, GSP, Jones, Silva, Aldo or Johnson I think you're picking your GOAT pretty reasonably. Guys like Khabib, Penn, Volk etc. I see a level lower, I don't think you're crazy if you pick them but I do find it questionable.

Personally, Fedor will always be my GOAT, and I tend to have Silva and GSP filling out my top 3. Jones only falls lower for me because I wasn't watching so much during his rise to prominence and early title reign.

 

[haj02]

Well said brother.
Jon Jones is on to more important things than being the greatest fighter ever.
He is fulfilling his true destiny and becoming our future Pope

Saint Jones bless
View attachment 1021144

I was pretty surprised he wasn't mentioned at midnight mass on Christmas Eve in my local parish. I think perhaps my priest has a twang of jealousy towards Jon and needs to confess his sin.

 

[Koya]

I'm not that hung up on it. I definitely hold it against a fighter, but the truth is we realy can never be sure if the opponent wasn't on something too. I know how testing works and there are a plethora of ways to get around testing. Chemistty is a very creative field and you can always create new ways to get around testing.

I also understand that contamination is a real thing. Though obviously it's also often used as an illegitimate excuse, it's still something that could easily truly happen IRL, too.
And I'm not gonna treat a postive result from someone who consumed the wrong substance unknowngly, the same as a positive result from someone who is doping under the guidance of someone who really understands what he is doing or the fighter might himself have done sufficient homework to know how to evade testing. So not all positive results are equally detrimental in the GOAT-assessment, IMO.

What if someone tested positive not one time, not two times but 3 times. That's a lot of contamination

 

[NationWideNinja]

- number of title defenses
- level of opposition
- demonstrating clear superiority over opponents
- low level of damage taken

I personally dont care that much about finishing an opponent IF the performance was extremely dominant, like a prime GSP or a Khabib decision.

Dont care for PEDs because lets be real everyone is on them.

Thats why I think there is no argument that Jon is the GOAT. Like 60% of his career is title fights, great names on his record, with DC being an amazing win TWICE, also except for the occasional war mostly very dominant wins.

GSP a clear second imo

DJ and AS interchangeable #3&4

Fedor #5

 

[Nobru]

Thats A hard call considering all ufc fighters and history. That said, i look at:

Skill set
Career Longevity
Title defenses
Invincibility aura

Some fighters have a few of the above, but miss important points.

Fedor, Silva, Jones, Aldo, gsp, MM, Penn, Nunes

Thats my list of fighters who meet the above criteria. Calling one or the other GOAT is a personal opinion.

 

[Davidjacksonjones]

I was pretty surprised he wasn't mentioned at midnight mass on Christmas Eve in my local parish. I think perhaps my priest has a twang of jealousy towards Jon and needs to confess his sin.

Saint Jones not mentioned on midnight mass on the night before Jesus was born!? This is blasphemy. I would like to visit your local parish and have a word with the workers there

 

[Mittens]

1) Never getting caught using forbidden substances.
2) Longivety at the very top.

Those are the two things that matter. Rest is just icing on the cake.

 

[Iroh]

What if someone tested positive not one time, not two times but 3 times. That's a lot of contamination

Yeah, then it's obviously a different matter. Also, when they fail the eye-test, the contamination is most likely just an excuse/lie, and then I think it's justified to disqualify someone from the GOAT conversation. Like Ubereem actually used his meds as an excuse, when he got caught and the commission even bought it. That was obviously and clearly BS. LMAO!!

 

[Koya]

Yeah, then it's obviously a different matter. Also, when they fail the eye-test, the contamination is most likely just an excuse/lie, and then I think it's justified to disqualify someone from the GOAT conversation. Like Ubereem actually used his meds as an excuse, when he got caught and the commission even bought it. That was obviously and clearly BS. LMAO!!

It was all horse meat tho

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

The game is to win. Not how you win, but who you win against, to which the answer should be "the most kinds of people." I should be able to run you through the mental gauntlet of every single kind of fighter and skill (not just the ones you fight), and if you come out with the highest win percentage out of that, you're the goat.

To me this means, it doesn't matter how big your strengths are, it matters how exploitable are your weaknesses, because that's what will lead to loss. The more that you have that any hypothetical fighter could take advantage of, the more chance you have of losing. In the end, in an infinite system, the winningest fighter is the best one.

*Edit* This is going to be a pretty nerdy metaphor, but it's just an example of me having 3 minutes of blank time in a day and overthinking something.

Generally speaking, if I were to play you in a fighting game tournament, we pick our best characters or we'll pick characters we're good enough at that we think can counter your best character. One of us might lose and feel like doing one or the other was the wrong strategy and we should have picked different. But in general, if we're going head to head and you win, I have to consider you the better player. It'd be stupid now to.

But let's say we played every character against each other. We run through the entire roster against each other A vs A, A vs B, A vs C... B vs A, B vs B, B vs C, etc.. And then I come out winning more matches, then how can you not say that I'm better at the game? That's the difference to me, and that's why I don't go strictly by the record, titles, accomplishments, or strength of schedule/opposition... I mean, those can definitely show the traits I would need to take into account into analyzing their full scope of skills, but they themselves are not the measuring stick.

 

[AbominableJoman]

No peds ala jonathon junes or anderoid

Multiple titles defences

Top 5 and 10 contenders

Winning streak with no nc or draws

Not under 5’ 8”