Yes title fights are very important because you are fighting only the top guys of your division and as every single champ ever said "its easy to win the belt, its much harder to defend it". If you stay long enough champ people will study you and figure you out, that's the nature of the game, and if they don't then you have a claim for GOAT status.
Now we can discuss if a guy with 8 title defenses is better than one with 12, yes that's possible because both guys have fought the crème de la crème of their division for years, but to be mentioned in GOAT you need to defend at least 6 times in a row, then you have a claim to be put on the GOAT waiting list.
Another criteria can also be the number of wins over top10 people, where your boys resume is also ultra thin and does not put him in any goat conversation.