Could you consider IlIa GOAT if he doesn't defend his title much and just gets a handful of extremely high quality wins?

[wolffanghameha]

Hypothetically, if he does the Conor/Cejudo route, but a better version of it - beats Emmett, Volk, Max, Charles, Islam at 155 or 170, Arman, Paddy and leaves - could you consider him the GOAT?

Basically, is a handful of quick, extremely high quality wins against varied skillsets enough to be GOAT? Or do you need longevity?

Personally I wouldn't be able to put him right at the top, because part of being the GOAT is having everyone watching you for a long time, gameplannning or even learning from you and then you still beat them. If Ilia gets these big wins and leaves, he's not giving the new guys a chance to study him so much and isn't beating the next generation that comes through.
Oftentimes champs lose to someone who isn't the most dangerous contender on paper. So getting a bunch of defences is important.

 

[yourcasualcombatfan]

Personally, I think Illia plans to defend and grow his legacy more at lightweight and maybe do a super fight at welterweight just to get a third belt. Lightweight has the most name value out of the three divisions he would go to and his featherweight days are probably over. He doesn’t look that bad at lightweight either so it wouldn’t be too crazy if he racked up defenses there.

 

[Subline]

Hypothetically, if he does the Conor/Cejudo route, but a better version of it - beats Emmett, Volk, Max, Charles, Islam at 155 or 170, Arman, Paddy and leaves - could you consider him the GOAT?

Basically, is a handful of quick, extremely high quality wins against varied skillsets enough to be GOAT? Or do you need longevity?

Personally I wouldn't be able to put him right at the top, because part of being the GOAT is having everyone watching you for a long time, gameplannning or even learning from you and then you still beat them. If Ilia gets these big wins and leaves, he's not giving the new guys a chance to study him so much and isn't beating the next generation that comes through.
Oftentimes champs lose to someone who isn't the most dangerous contender on paper. So getting a bunch of defences is important.

I think wins over Arman + Paddy would make him a lock for the top 10, somewhere between 6-10. He would have that Khabib level perfect record + dominance (potentially), but across 2 divisions and against better competition overall.

If he can beat those two guys, and then lobby for an Islam fight... well it depends. If Islam becomes 170 champ, then Ilia moves up and defeats him to become the first ever 3-div champ, I would consider him the GOAT. If Islam loses at 170, moves back down to 155 and then loses to Ilia, it would still be a great win for Ilia and propel him into the top 5 (the #2-3 spot for me personally), but not enough for me personally to consider him the GOAT.

At the end of the day though, GOAT criteria is subjective, and it wouldn't be a ridiculous claim to call him the GOAT if he does accrue those 3 potential wins. I've learnt over time not to speculate too deeply into someone's GOAT potential, because things can fall apart very quickly in this sport, so it's better to just enjoy his run and see how things play out. He has very tough fights ahead of him, particularly in Arman/Islam.