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The MMA GOAT conversation stirred up after Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement at UFC 254. "The Eagle" defeated Justin Gaethje with a second-round knockout and went on to say that it was his last fight in UFC. Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya has now weighed in on the conversation.
Anderson Silva, another top contender in the GOAT debate, also had his last UFC fight this Saturday at UFC Vegas 12 against Uriah Hall.
With a 20-0 record in his professional career, Israel Adesanya is definitely going to make it into the discussion in a couple of years if he continues his momentum. However, Adesanya himself thinks the entire concept of a GOAT is all made up and it does not matter to him at all.
Israel Adesanya weighs in on the GOAT conversation
Israel Adesanya was asked about his opinion on the GOAT discussion on Submission Radio. The Middleweight Champion made it clear he was not a fan of the idea itself, since it is just different people's opinions.
"People just have to understand that whole GOAT talk, the whole pound-for-pound list is made up. It’s literally people fighting over made up bulls**t. It’s made up, it’s all subjective and this is opinions. Everyone’s allowed to have who they think is the GOAT."
Israel Adesanya jokingly said he can consider UFC referee Herb Dean to be the GOAT, in order to explain the subjective nature of the discussion.
Jon Jones, with whom Israel Adesanya continues to have a war of words with on Twitter, is also a contender for the GOAT title, with a professional record of 26-1.
Israel Adesanya did not forget to point out how Jon Jones is firing at UFC on Twitter for replacing him with Khabib Nurmagomedov as the top pound-for-pound fighter.
"It’s just silly how everyone’s arguing over it. Like it’s funny how Jones tweeted right after the Khabib won. He said, ‘I stepped down and relinquished my GOAT title and you can take this’ and then he comes back and starts crying over Twitter. All this GOAT talk…it’s fun, don’t get me wrong, but what does it mean?"
Finishing his career with 13-0 in UFC and 29-0 overall, Khabib made one last request to the company before he left the Octagon that night: "You have to make me the No. 1 pound-for-pound."
UFC announced shortly afterwards that Khabib Nurmagomedov was the new UFC No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. Naturally, it did not sit well with Jon Jones, who had been holding the spot for a long time.
The GOAT discussion will continue for a while now. But in truth, like Israel Adesanya pointed out, it is a subjective discussion and keeps changing over time.
