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Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson has weighed in on the GOAT debate this past week. Johnson holds the record for the most consecutive title defenses in UFC history.
The American was traded for Ben Askren to the ONE Championship after a close split decision loss to Henry Cejudo. Considered by many as one of the greatest of all time, Johnson feels Jon Jones should be No. 1 in the GOAT debate.
"Jon Jones has gotta be No. 1 for me. His title reign, I’ve seen him train before, how he’s beaten so many great light heavyweights before. And then after that it starts to get cloudy, I’m not gonna lie. I think there are athletes that are on their way, like if Khabib would keep on fighting and do five or six or seven or eight more fights, then I’ll definitely throw him in.
"For me, I like to see longevity. I like to see dominance. Longevity is a big thing. When you look at Jon Jones, I think he’s 15 world title fights? That’s a lot of work of staying motivated, staying on top to keep on winning. I think Israel Adesanya is on his way. If he goes up to light heavyweight and beats the champion there, and he goes up to fight Jon Jones, he’s definitely on his way."
Jon Jones, in typical fashion, took to Twitter to acknowledge Johnson putting him ahead of Khabib Nurmagomedov in the greatest of all time conversation. Currently behind Khabib in the pound-for-pound rankings, Jones has been vehemently refuting the claims on social media since UFC 254.
Demetrious Johnson names Jon Jones ahead of Khabib Nurmagomedov in the GOAT debate
To Johnson, who was the top of the pound-for-pound rankings in the UFC for over two years, longevity is a key factor to be considered in the conversation of greatest of all time. "Mighty Mouse" somehow surprisingly threw Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi into the mix.
"Is it a popularity contest? What exactly puts you in that discussion of greatest of all time? For me, it’s longevity, how many championships have you done, a little bit of everything. For me, that’s why I put Gegard (Mousasi) in there because when I watch him, I’m like, look at his hands, look at his grappling, look at his submissions. He can do it all"
Does Jon Jones deserve to be considered the GOAT, rather than Khabib Nurmagomedov? Sound off in the comments.
