Khabib & GOAT's

[Rambo89]

1) LW division has always been the deepest shark tank, because average male is 180-200 which translates in LW.

That doesn't make him higher on the list than guys that have double digit title defenses.

2) he dominated McGregor, Gaethe, Porier. Those 3 are far far tougher and more rounded than Florian, Sherk, or Gomi.

That could be an argument for him being higher on the list than Penn however not higher than Jones, GSP, Silva, MM, Aldo, etc... 3 title defenses TOTAL isnt enough to be GOAT

3) the current MMA fighter is far more well rounded and advanced than an MMA fighter during BJ Penn and arguably GSPs time. The UFC is so much bigger and popular now, its so competive to even get a spot on the roster.

The classic era fallacy. The sport has evolved as a whole. That just means that guys like Silva and GSP are even more impressive because they were lightyears ahead of their competition.

4) BJ Penn winning the WW title isn't as impressive as if Khabib would have done it. Look at th size of WWs today vs back then.

Matt Hughes is a very large WW who often cut from over 200 pounds. He was known for his grappling and insane strength

5) Khabib needed 8 straight wins to get a title defense. This speaks to how competive the LW division is. If he got his title shot 4 wins into his UFC career, he'd had 8 + 3 title defenses.

THIS DIDNT HAPPEN! You cant use things that DID NOT HAPPEN to help your argument.

Plus just use your eyes. The guy never so much as got a scratch his entire career. Even GSP didn't do that. And Jones you can argue lost against Dominick and Gustafson.

This is very impressive! However when you look at Jones, Silva, GSP, Aldo, MM and their first couple wins as champs they were just as dominant. Khabib just retired at 31 before people could figure out his game.

 

[HHJ]

lol all this bickering cos Khabib is one of Tom's (and alot of people's) favorites.


Get over yourselves.

 

[World eater]

Goat discussions are just opinions. You don’t like Tom’s picks? Me neither. But he has the right to choose fighters he thinks are the best. I have been around to watch all the “goats” fight and all were very impressive individuals. While it lasted, Khabib’s career was very impressive to me (and he is still my wife’s favorite fighter of all time).

 

[Egészségére!]

Agree his career is the thinnest of the top goats & he shouldn’t be rewarded for retiring so early. IMO part of the reason he’s so highly thought of is not just his dominance - as Ts said so were the others (although prime Jones had a huge problem with Gus & as did Silva v Chael 1 & GSP vs Hendricks) but HOW he dominated. Watching the pummeling of MJ & Edson was like watching a pro beat up civilian. A lot of those should have been 10-8 rounds.

That plus he also held his own or even won on the feet vs prime JG, Dustin & Conor & finished all three gives him an aura of ultimate goat-ness that I get but would agree with a lot more he had at least 3 or 4 more defenses.

 

[FrankDux]

Islam > Khabib

And Islam isn't even in the GOAT conversation.

 

[Brigfa2]

Because he is the only muslim in the GOAT talk.
But respect has nothing to do with it so your question is terrible lol I respect the guy but he is not in the top 5 for me

 

[Brigfa2]

Islam > Khabib

And Islam isn't even in the GOAT conversation.

Islam will never have his Conor moment so even if he becomes a triple weight champ people will say Khabib is better and he would've done even better if he didn't retire

 

[JKS]

The reason why he's talked about so high is cause of the promotion in the media and the push he got from AKA and the guys there who have influence.

Khabib is the best LW of all time and I would have him in the top 10 overall. But he's nowhere near the top of the list or top 5. The reason which pretty much most people say, his resume and accomplishments are thin.

His supporters use dominance and undefeated as the main point. Well, it would be one thing if he fought the number of high level fighters that Jones, GSP or Anderson did and stay undefeated. But he simply didn't.

Going 13-0 in the UFC is very impressive no doubt with title defenses, but several have done that and more. Usman was 15-0 in the UFC with 5 defenses, Volk was 13-0 at FW before losing with 5 defenses, Izzy was 12-0 at MW with 5 defenses. And those guys fought better competition, eventually they lost because they just kept fighting top figher after top fighter.

He went 16-0 in the minor leagues which is impressive as well, but again who's he fighting, no fighters of any relevance and none of them accomplished anything. You had a guy like Donald Cerrone fight Benson 2x, Varner 2x, Casilo, Razor Rob and Njoukwani in his first 16 fights. There are many LWs that in their first 16 fights have fought much higher competition with some losses. If very likely if Khabib fought in WEC as a LW earlier he would have losses.

I have him somehwere in the 6-10 ranking overall. Which is still dam good.

 

[pnchdrnk]

Thats kinda my point though. He only defended 3 times. Like BJ Penn was extremely dominant when he was the champion as well. He dominated and finished Sherk, Florian, and Sanchez. He also won the 170 pound title against Matt Hughes. I would argue what he did as a champion was equally as impressive as what Khabib did. Everyone who claims Khabib is the GOAT always says the "what if's" like if he had continued to fight he would of continued to be dominant but that means jack because it didnt freakin happen!!!!

 

[Chubi]

That's what happens when a fighter retire exactly when he should. Khabib is now forever undefeated and left with this aura of invicibility after subbing Conor, Poirier and Gaethje, and before guys like Arman and Gamrot made a name for themselves in the division to bring new challenges to him.

To be honest, Islams is a dominant champion, and it seems like everybody in their team thought that Khabib was better than him, so maybe the reputation is more than due.

 

[Cherry]

He was extremely dominant at the top of a very good division. His early retirement is a knock on him, sure. But someone can extrapolate his elite peak as a fighter and say he's one of the best to ever do it. Makes sense to me. Best ever talk is all opinion based. Jones had a longer reign of course, but nobody made Khabib look the way Gus and Reyes did Jones. Fedor, Anderson, stuck around too long. Should their prolonged careers not be put into account the way Khabib's premature one seems to always be?

Just spit ballin here. To me, Khabib showed he deserves to be in that conversation.

 

[TommyBikes]

I had an actual goat for a few weeks. Fkr chewed everything

 

[sonhow]

Mystique. And moments. And context.

You almost could say he was a master of being in right place at the right time. His fight with Conor has more intrique, more eyeballs than any other fight in ufc history. Probably in all of mma actually. And he made most of this moment. And many other moments.

"Perception is reality"
-Kenny Florian

 

[El Panteron]

2) he dominated McGregor, Gaethe, Porier. Those 3 are far far tougher and more rounded than Florian, Sherk, or Gomi.

3) the current MMA fighter is far more well rounded and advanced than an MMA fighter during BJ Penn and arguably GSPs time. The UFC is so much bigger and popular now, its so competive to even get a spot on the roster.

4) BJ Penn winning the WW title isn't as impressive as if Khabib would have done it. Look at th size of WWs today vs back then.

While these points are true, you can only consider a fighter in his own era, GSP and BJ weren't some aliens coming from the future, they were in the same MMA landscape as all the others. Probably wouldn't be as impressive today, but same goes for many athletes coming from the developing eras of their sports. Doesn't take away from their achievements, hell actually makes them more impressive, even.

 

[Lars6]

Cause guys like Tom and GSP are not casuals and know who are the best fighters

 

[UFConFOX]

For all the subjectivity there's an easy quantifiable approach. You keep saying "just as dominant" and then callout people for hypotheticals that "never happened." Your claim that anyone at all was "just as dominant" is the literal definition of what never happened....

I did this 5 years ago when he retired. Khabib had:
- highest percentage of UFC rounds won
- highest percentage of rounds won against top 10 opponents
- longest streak of consecutive UFC rounds won
- highest percentage of 10-8 rounds in UFC fights
- highest percentage of 10-8 rounds against top 10 opponents
- highest percentage of 10-8 rounds in title fights
(last one was in-part driven by the Iaquinta fight; but facts are facts)

Those are all verifiable, statistical, objective facts at the time Khabib retired and still hold true today. Nothing more needs to be said to defend Khabib's place at the top of any MMA discussion.

If you want to favor longevity, multiple division titles, more defenses, etc that's fine. All of that is also objectively quantifiable so I understand and respect it.

But if you want to make up bs about people being "just as dominant" in a 13 fight stretch in the UFC as Khabib....foh dawg, that's just lies.
(fwiw, if Silva didn't just crush his opponents so quickly - and Leites and Sonnen 1 fights didn't happen - he'd be the closest to Khabib's dominance....as is, not close)

 

[Nausicaa]

What is this, support group for a bunch of cry babies?

 

[kkthx]

You see fighters putting him up there because khabib is popular and they want a piece of that fanbase.

 

[VAfan]

agree. his wins aren't huge and he left way, way too early. you can't just beat one good guy and walk off into the sunset.

 

[Edward Henry Greb]

Khabib is arguably the most overrated fighter we’ve seen in the UFC (it’s between Khabib & Stipe). Khabib’s resume is filled with cans and his best wins are mediocre. He also has a fake persona as a humble guy when he associates and takes money from terrorists. He doesn’t pay his taxes and associates with snitches.

Didn't the current WW Campion, on an 11-fight win streak just admit that Khabib plays with him?



The truth is, Khabib is a once-in-a-lifetime fighter.

There has never been anyone this dominant and MMA history.

Even an insufferable, egomaniac MIDDLEWEIGHT, like Luke Rockhold, admits he cannot "play with Khabib."



Khabib = the real deal.