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Khabib Nurmagomedov and Jon Jones have dominated the GOAT conversation for some time now. There is, however, another fighter who has claimed to be on the same level as both men. That fighter is former Bellator featherweight champion A.J. McKee, who is currently 22-1.
In a recent interview on The MMA Hour, McKee touched on his belief regarding his own standing as a fighter. According to him, there are almost no fighters who are on his level, and that the likes of Nurmagomedov and Jones are only better due to their statistics.
"The way my career has been my entire life, I've always been the underdog, Ariel. We know this, I'm the only second-generation fighter out here making real noise, and stat-wise, who's doing better than me, besides Jon Jones? Khabib? You can name legit two people in the world. We're talking the entire world that have better stats than me," McKee said.
Check out A.J. McKee talking about Khabib Nurmagomedov and Jon Jones (8:50):
It is an extremely bold statement on McKee's part, as there are several high-level fighters in MMA, such as Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski, who are former UFC champions with multiple title defenses in their division. Similarly, there is Islam Makhachev, the reigning UFC lightweight champion, with just one loss.
Meanwhile, McKee never successfully defended his Bellator featherweight title, losing to Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire in an immediate rematch, after he had previously claimed the title from him via first-round submission. While he briefly flirted with a UFC debut, McKee has remained a career Bellator fighter.
Khabib Nurmagomedov's possible GOAT status has been called into question
While A.J. McKee believes himself an all-time great fighter, Khabib Nurmagomedov's potential standing as the greatest fighter of all time has been scrutinized. While 'The Eagle' retired undefeated, he is often criticized by both fans and his contemporaries for not having fought enough top-tier competition.
This was the crux of Jon Jones' argument against the unbeaten Dagestani being considered the GOAT. Jones reminded the public that he has more UFC title wins than Nurmagomedov has had UFC wins, and felt that the latter being proclaimed the greatest undervalues what he has accomplished.
