UFC lightweight Justin Gaethje gives GSP vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov GOAT debate verdict

UFC lightweight contender Justin Gaethje gave his two cents on the raging debate as to who is the Greatest of All Time in MMA between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Georges St-Pierre.

A discussion that has been going on for months now, the debate as to who is MMA's GOAT began, fittingly enough, when Gaethje lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 254 back in October.

Justin Gaethje came up short to Khabib Nurmagomedov, losing by second round submission and failing to capture the UFC lightweight championship for himself.

After the fight, Khabib Nurmagomedov stunned the MMA world by announcing his retirement.

In the days that followed, arguments and discussions emerged with regards to Khabib Nurmagomedov's place in the list of MMA's greatest of all time. After all, he had retired as an unbeaten champion.

Many hailed Khabib Nurmagomedov as the GOAT, while others begged to differ.

"I promised my mother this is going to be my last fight.""I only want one thing from the UFC, I want to be number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world."@TeamKhabib announces his retirement from MMA. Wow 🙏 #UFC254 pic.twitter.com/RFnCyu2X0W

— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) October 24, 2020

The last man to share the Octagon with Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, chimed in on the matter.

Talking to Helen Yee, Gaethje suggested that the GOAT debate should be based on eras:

"It’s such a hard discussion, if you’re going to have a discussion, I think you’re going to have to do it by era because for one, the eras are so different, the style of fighting is so different, from ’92 to 2002 and then so forth and so on. I don’t know. Royce Gracie, obviously, is first generation GOAT, Matt Hughes, GSP, all those guys that really freakin’ made us fall in love with the sport at the very beginning, in 2002, in 2003, 2004, there’s a lot of guys."

Justin Gaethje eventually picked his GOAT, which he says was based on merit:

"Again, you can’t really compare the two to today’s fighters because the sport is so different, but I’d say GSP on merit alone."

Khabib Nurmagomedov or Georges St-Pierre: Who is MMA's real GOAT?

Based on accomplishments as well as lack of issues outside the Octagon, it would seem like UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former two-division UFC champion Georges St-Pierre are the frontrunners for MMA's Greatest of All Time.

Both men retired at the top of their game, and both men have spotless reputations, in and out of the Octagon.

But based on accomplishments, who is the true GOAT?

Khabib Nurmagomedov has an undefeated record of 30-0, and retired as the UFC lightweight champion after three dominant and successful defenses. As for UFC records, Nurmagomedov is the longest reigning lightweight champion in UFC history (931 days), and he's tied with BJ Penn and Ben Henderson for Most lightweight title defenses in UFC history with 3.

Georges St-Pierre, meanwhile, retired with a 26-2 professional record, and had two runs as the UFC welterweight champion and one run as the UFC middleweight champion. GSP holds the UFC record for most welterweight title fights (14), most wins in welterweight title fights (12), most wins in the welterweight division (19), and most successful welterweight title defenses (9) among many other records.

With all these in mind, who among the two is your MMA goat?