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MMA great Georges St-Pierre has a clear idea about which fighters he wants to see adorning the UFC Mount Rushmore.
In a recent interview with Complex Sports, Georges St-Pierre was asked to name the fighters worthy of being on Mount Rushmore. GSP named Conor McGregor along with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, and UFC pioneer Royce Gracie, all without a second's delay.
"I am gonna choose five guys. This is a very subjective question. Who was the most dominating champion ever? Khabib Nurmagomedov. Because he was undefeated and probably never lost a round. Faced the most adeversity? I gotta say Jon Jones. Who was the most flamboyant? I think Anderson Silva, because he had some crazy highlight reels. Who was the biggest draw? Who raised the bar in terms of PPVs, awareness for the sport? Conor McGregor. For the fifth one, I am gonna go with my personal one. Who changed the game? Who did something that had never been done before? I think it's Royce Gracie," Georges St-Pierre said.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a spectacular cliff-face sculpture that features carved faces of US Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. It represents the birth, growth, development, and preservation of the US respectively.
Unlike the ever-present GOAT argument that revolves around the competitive achievements made by fighters at a personal level, UFC Mount Rushmore is a concept that is centered on the fighter's contribution to the evolution of the sport.
A little elaboration of Georges St-Pierre's Mount Rushmore
Georges St-Pierre's Mount Rushmore list is backed by ingenious reasoning. Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Jon Jones' contributions to the sport are well documented and it is fresh in the memory of fight fans. However, Anderson Silva and Royce Gracie's achievements are relatively unknown to most new fight fans, and therefore deserve an elaboration.
Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva holds the record for the second-most consecutive title defenses in UFC history at ten. Fighters tend to become increasingly risk-averse as their title reigns progress. Anderson Silva's creative striking and optics did not fade away even after establishing his dominance in the middleweight division. The length of Anderson Silva's title reign takes second place to the fact that the Spider won nine out of eleven title fights by the way of finishing.
UFC pioneer Royce Gracie was the winner of an open weight tournament at UFC 1 and UFC 2. Gracie introduced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to the American combat sports community in an eight-fight undefeated run. 28 years before Israel Adesanya attempted to defy the conventional notions of size parity in MMA, Gracie achieved the feat against fighters that would be two or even three weight classes above him by present-day standards.
