The REAL reason Khabib will never be in GOAT contention in the eyes of the critics..

[TheWave111]

I would argue both.
Do you mind to clarify what you mean by that tho?

Khabib ragdollling interim champions and doing whatever and whenever he wants is by far more impressive than someone who is struggling to win a fight.
Both fights have the same result of 2 different fighters but they can't be compared. But they are measured exactly the same by people who only insist on title defences.
That's how a win of Khabib is compared which is ridicilous in my opinion.
If only results (win or loss) count and not how, we can just turn the tv off and just read results afterwards to determine who is the goat.
There won't be any need to watch MMA ever again.

The only fair thing to do is add a factor to wins or losses.

 

[Jojomojo]

Khabib ragdollling interim champions and doing whatever and whenever he wants is by far more impressive than someone who is struggling to win a fight.
Both fights have the same result of 2 different fighters but they can't be compared. But they are measured exactly the same by people who only insist on title defences.
That's how a win of Khabib is compared which is ridicilous in my opinion.
If only results (win or loss) count and not how, we can just turn the tv off and just read results afterwards to determine who is the goat.

Fair point.
Again thats not what i meant with results (win or loss), but you are right.
However i would say that dominant wins are common amongst Goat contenders. GSP, Jones, Fedor and Anderson all had extremely dominant fights over and over again.
Khabib also had fights that werent as dominant and he fights with a style, that works super well until it doesnt. Thats why title defenses (or if you will a long time spend at the absolute top of a division) matter, because they show the ability of a fighter to impose his game on motivated contender after motivated contender even tho its well known and These contenders can prepare for it.
That goes e.g. for the famous 3 "generations" of fighters.
Khabib retired before he could face any of those younger fighters (you maybe can put Gaethje to that, but yeah).

 

[Abazzdeboom]

The real reason is he has less fights in the UFC than Jones has title defense.

 

[Gregoire1]

No, real reason - he has padded record, weak schedule and didnt beat any all-time great fighter. His best win is Conor. He even didnt fight Tony, best fighter in his division, let alone Usman, Colby, other WW. And he is from lightest division aside Mouse between all-time GOAT candidates (Jones, Fedor, Andy, GSP, DC)

 

[The Penetrator]

Jones is a steroid/PED cheater and he didn't give anything good to this sport, because he is a bad example for other fighters.

Meeeeh... idk.... Jones brutalized a legendary LHW generation, who were all probably on some sort of PEDs that would get you banned post USADA, kid ran through everybody, literally toyed with legends. Then proceeded to clean out other 2 generations of LHWs, made DC look silly twice...

So yeah, i know Jon Jones isnt the best guy, and got caught once with some PEDs, and once for cocaine, but lookin at his resume, i dont think there is a better resume in this sport, and hes still doing it.

 

[PeacePipe]

Is because he's never faced adversity or a loss. He dominates all his opponents and that's the reason why.

The reasons the other guys get the praise in addition other stuff(# of title defenses, sos etc) is they have faced adversity and shown they can won in multiple ways. Khabib hasn't shown that

It's kinda crazy to suggest but had khabib lost to barboza or something than go on to beat barboza in a rematch, Conor, gaethje, Dustin. The media would spin it at omg, look how much he's grown as a fighter. Etc there are still fighters and journalists that say khabibs striking isn't effective.

I think the fight world see khabib as a one trick pony(Kevin holland for sure has called him that) and believe eventually he won't be able to win his way. So they're banking on that.


Khabib could finish 35-0 at lw and the goalpost will move to he didn't go to ww in the era of double champs<Lmaoo>

Tl; Dr khabibs never been through adversity or lost his dominant style is held against him because he hasn't shown to win multiple ways.

Its because he didn't defend enough . Pretty obvious. If Jon Jones or GSP left after 2 defences they would look just as dominant .

For me personally, I'd like a Conor rematch l, Tony Ferguson, RDA. Then he'd be in the conversation. But still in reality behind Jones and GSP and Silva. Jones , GSP and Silva all defeated their prime foes multiple times, Gustafsson, DC, bJ Penn, Chael Sonnen etc.

khabib beat poirier, ianquinta ,McGregor and Gaithje, it's not enough dude sorry

 

[kuroro]

No.
There will always be something.
Excellence turns people off.

"Retiring early?? U cant do that??"

He is the LW goat, but to be the p4p goat, he hasn't accomplished enough. Yeah there will always be haters who will never acknowledge his achievements, but not all the people denying his goat status are haters. There's legit issues with calling him p4p goat.

 

[Anaconda99]

Its the most stupid argument i ever heard. If your that good that you face no one on your level that doesnt take away anything from goat status. Lol you have to lose to become goat really one of the most stupid things i heard. There are legit reasons to argue Khabib is not the goat. Too short run, 1 division champ not enough defenses. As if tapping to strikes and then winning rematch makes you more of a goat.

 

[greenhawk]

For me main argument is that he ended his career so quickly.

Arguments you mentioned dont make any sense, like you explained.

But to leave a sport at like 30 years of age, and to be considered greatest of all time? When he can give so much more to this sport... Ya thats the main argument for me, specially when you have guys like Jon Jones and GSP, who gave every atom they had to MMA, for way more time than they realistically should, and still remained on top.

I certainly agree, he retired too soon and that'll affect his legacy. I'm a huge Khabib fan and even i don't consider him the #1 of all time . But for me he's definitely among p4p top 5 of all time.
My issue is with those who dismiss Khabibs career completely and relegate him to a LW great and not an overall one.

 

[TheWave111]

Fair point.
Again thats not what i meant with results (win or loss), but you are right.
However i would say that dominant wins are common amongst Goat contenders. GSP, Jones, Fedor and Anderson all had extremely dominant fights over and over again.
Khabib also had fights that werent as dominant and he fights with a style, that works super well until it doesnt. Thats why title defenses (or if you will a long time spend at the absolute top of a division) matter, because they show the ability of a fighter to impose his game on motivated contender after motivated contender even tho its well known and These contenders can prepare for it.
That goes e.g. for the famous 3 "generations" of fighters.
Khabib retired before he could face any of those younger fighters (you maybe can put Gaethje to that, but yeah).

The opponents of Jon Jones are not on the same level as the contenders in the lightweight.
Not 1 single fighter in the light heavyweight division is in the pound for pound ranking. Lightweight has 4 in the pound for pound and Khabib finished 3 of them easily.
Khabib also fights in a weight class which has by far more fighters all around the globe. He has more competition and it's by far harder to get in the top 10 of the lightweight than in the light heavy weight.
In the light heavy weight you can fight till your 40 like Glover without being threatened by new talents.
His only real competition in my eyes is Cormier and he cheated.
The only 2 options for me are GSP and Khabib.
Everyone can choose their own criteria. It's subjective in the end.

 

[Jojomojo]

The opponents of Jon Jones are not on the same level as the contenders in the lightweight.
Not 1 single fighter in the light heavyweight division is in the pound for pound ranking. Lightweight has 4 in the pound for pound and Khabib finished 3 of them easily.
Khabib also fights in a weight class which has by far more fighters all around the globe. He has more competition and it's by far harder to get in the top 10 of the lightweight than in the light heavy weight.
In the light heavy weight you can fight till your 40 like Glover without being threatened by new talents.
His only real competition in my eyes is Cormier and he cheated.
The only 2 options for me are GSP and Khabib.
Everyone can choose their own criteria. It's subjective in the end.

Your take on weight classes is one of the worse ones i have read, your example with Glover disrespectful af (haha LW is so weak RDA and Cowboy still win fights there), and LHW historically was one of the most stacked if not the most stacked right before Jones came around.
You than mention the DC fights, as DC is the only top win you accept, but forget to mention that Khabibs best win is propbaly Dustin fcking Poirier.
You and the other guy with the "hard road to the top" are really only making excuses on why either Khabib couldnt achieve more or other candidates accomplishments are to be valued less.
Deep inside you realised that Khabibs resumee doesnt hold up to the absolute best.

 

[snaportap21]

Is because he's never faced adversity or a loss. He dominates all his opponents and that's the reason why.

The reasons the other guys get the praise in addition other stuff(# of title defenses, sos etc) is they have faced adversity and shown they can won in multiple ways. Khabib hasn't shown that

It's kinda crazy to suggest but had khabib lost to barboza or something than go on to beat barboza in a rematch, Conor, gaethje, Dustin. The media would spin it at omg, look how much he's grown as a fighter. Etc there are still fighters and journalists that say khabibs striking isn't effective.

I think the fight world see khabib as a one trick pony(Kevin holland for sure has called him that) and believe eventually he won't be able to win his way. So they're banking on that.


Khabib could finish 35-0 at lw and the goalpost will move to he didn't go to ww in the era of double champs<Lmaoo>

Tl; Dr khabibs never been through adversity or lost his dominant style is held against him because he hasn't shown to win multiple ways.

You could have just said naysayers say nay.

 

[D 1 Wrestler]

If anything more people not liking him is better.

Lets look at Americans, they have been taught that they are the strongest, toughest, most powerful, smartest, most advanced, and have the best athletes.

And one mountain hillbilly with a 14th century mentality from a little village in a place they didn't even know existed came and dominated and basically embarrassed the best they had offer and retired without getting scratched.

Khabib has made people like @D 1 Wrestler question everything they have been taught in life. These people will never call him a GOAT, but when they go to sleep at night they will forever be haunted by PTSD inflicted on them by the Eagle, this means so much more than subjective GOAT talk.

Yes a guy who barely fought once a year and was champ for barely a year keeps me up at night lol. Khabib will never be mentioned in goat talks as he fought too infrequently and wasnt champ for long.

 

[Nobru]

Nah. Overcoming adversity is definitely a sign of greatness, but you know what's arguably even better? Being so damn good that no one can force you to experience it. You can't say someone isn't the best because they're too good and should let people succeed against them more haha. Hardy can spout the "You learn more from wins and losses" mantra (and in that sense Hardy has learned a lot haha), but if you're good enough to just dominate everyone then how is that a bad thing? If Khabib kept fighting and went 50-0 without losing another round, would people be like "He's undefeated and was never in trouble; he can't be the best ever! Where's his ability to overcome adversity!" I don't think they would. Not to say Khabib is infallible, but if he's good enough to almost appear that way...shouldn't that hold some weight when considering how great he is? I mean it'd be one thing if he was fighting weak competition and never faced adversity, but that's obviously not the case.

To me the reason Khabib isn't the GOAT is simply because he hasn't put in the time on top. Guys like GSP, Jones, Fedor, and Silva spent years on top defending their spot, and Khabib retired before he could do that. If he kept fighting for a while longer and kept winning he'd have a much better claim, and maybe he'd even face some of that coveted adversity you think is most important. Is he the current best p4p (the title he asked for) though? That I totally believe he is.

Time is usually our answer. The fighters ability to keep himself as the best for a long time. Aldo didnt lose for years, faced strikers, wrestlers, until he lost. Andy also managed that without tdd and with his clownning. Jones, fedor. We have those big names brought over and over for a reason.
Imho, for someone to be considered goat he must be in there for a long Journey. He cant retire early and be in the discussion, regardless if he retires with a perfect record. Thats why gsp aint in my list, he left too soon
Khabib is definitely on his way to join this group, maybe even be the best of them if he manages to keep those ridiculous numbers. Not there yet tho

 

[C0NCH3TO]

The only true reason is because of those few title defenses. Unfortunately that carries a lot of weight and I agree to some extent....he is not my pick for goat. That said, it’s a bit deceiving as well because Mighty Mouse had a long title reign but 50% of that list are bums and Fedor has a few “ defenses “ yet he is the GOAT.

 

[GreenGorilla]

If anything more people not liking him is better.

Lets look at Americans, they have been taught that they are the strongest, toughest, most powerful, smartest, most advanced, and have the best athletes.

And one mountain hillbilly with a 14th century mentality from a little village in a place they didn't even know existed came and dominated and basically embarrassed the best they had offer and retired without getting scratched.

Khabib has made people like @D 1 Wrestler question everything they have been taught in life. These people will never call him a GOAT, but when they go to sleep at night they will forever be haunted by PTSD inflicted on them by the Eagle, this means so much more than subjective GOAT talk.

I don't know why this always comes up like it is a disadvantage.
My family lives in a mountain region in the jungle and doing cardio somewhere that is high above water level is a huge advantage to people who can't. I suspect same reason Mexicans have insane Cardio.
But I agree that it did rustle some american jimmies most likely, also a place most americans know is like 90% of the world considering my experiences I made with most Americans I met they tend to be very ignorant about the world outside of the Americas.
The thought about people not being able to accept that their "Nation" got beaten is hilarious tho, like that shit matters at all if you substract training and technique.

 

[HardasNAILZ]

Is because he's never faced adversity or a loss. He dominates all his opponents and that's the reason why.

The reasons the other guys get the praise in addition other stuff(# of title defenses, sos etc) is they have faced adversity and shown they can won in multiple ways. Khabib hasn't shown that

It's kinda crazy to suggest but had khabib lost to barboza or something than go on to beat barboza in a rematch, Conor, gaethje, Dustin. The media would spin it at omg, look how much he's grown as a fighter. Etc there are still fighters and journalists that say khabibs striking isn't effective.

I think the fight world see khabib as a one trick pony(Kevin holland for sure has called him that) and believe eventually he won't be able to win his way. So they're banking on that.


Khabib could finish 35-0 at lw and the goalpost will move to he didn't go to ww in the era of double champs<Lmaoo>

Tl; Dr khabibs never been through adversity or lost his dominant style is held against him because he hasn't shown to win multiple ways.

He just isn’t the GOAT.

DEAL WITH IT.

 

[Andreh]

Stop creating bullshit as a supposed reason.

The real reason is simple:
he
doesn't
have
the
RESUME.

See? Stop with the bullshit, like I said it's simple. WHEN he got the resume, we put him in GOAT discussions. SEE? SIMPLE!

So, again: Khabib is not even close to be in the GOAT discussion because he doesn't have the resume. GOAT LW at best but nothing more.

Next.

 

[TheWave111]

Your take on weight classes is one of the worse ones i have read, your example with Glover disrespectful af (haha LW is so weak RDA and Cowboy still win fights there), and LHW historically was one of the most stacked if not the most stacked right before Jones came around.
You than mention the DC fights, as DC is the only top win you accept, but forget to mention that Khabibs best win is propbaly Dustin fcking Poirier.
You and the other guy with the "hard road to the top" are really only making excuses on why either Khabib couldnt achieve more or other candidates accomplishments are to be valued less.
Deep inside you realised that Khabibs resumee doesnt hold up to the absolute best.

One of the most stacked before Jones?
Who exactly?
Let's say it's true. You admitted that Jones came after it was stacked.
9 out of 10 opponents of Jones had 1 or 2 win streaks when fighting Jones.
He even fought Chael Sonnon who got a titlefight after losing. Jones defended a title against an opponent who came from a loss.<45>
That's called a title defence but in reality it's a joke.
Not to mention that Jones fights with a huge reach advantage and all fights start on the feet.
Khabib has to start on the feet with mostly a reach disadvantage.
It's 100 times harder for a fighter with a reach disadvantage to close the distance than for a fighter with a huge reach advantage to keep their opponents at distance. Jones only has to use his front kick to the knee to keep the fight in distance which is very easy to do for a fighter with a huge reach advantage and win the fight.
You said that Khabib has a style which is dominant. No it's not. He is pressuring amd has to get his way threw punches.
It's Jones that can chill in the middle of the octagon fully relying on his huge reach advantage and chill untill someone enters the distance to kick them out.
Khabib has to go threw punches to get to his game which is 1000 times harder.
It's not even close for me.

 

[TheChosenKing]

He is the LW goat, but to be the p4p goat, he hasn't accomplished enough. Yeah there will always be haters who will never acknowledge his achievements, but not all the people denying his goat status are haters. There's legit issues with calling him p4p goat.

Honestly I dont know if hes seperated himself in that discussion yet either. What he has going for him is his undefeated record and 4 title defenses. However BJ and Benson both have 3 title defenses of their own. They also have more top 10 wins against comparable or even better competition. Gomi as well.