Demetrious Johnson Names His MMA GOAT

Often considered to be the greatest of all time, Demetrious Johnson has experienced much success in both the UFC and ONE Championship. ‘Mighty Mouse’ enjoyed a reign as the UFC flyweight champion, where he defended his title 11 times, and won the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix at ONE: Century in October last year.

Opinions can highly differ when talking about the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. For ‘DJ’ however, GOAT status should be determined on a fighter’s abilities and their title reigns. In an interview with MMA Junkie, Johnson said his pick for the greatest ever was Jon Jones. While also including Khabib Nurmagomedov and Israel Adesanya in the conversation.

“I Like To See Dominance”

“Jon Jones has gotta be number for me,” Johnson said. “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 Izzy 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.”

Doing It All

The 34-year-old also praised the current Bellator middleweight champion, Gegard Mousasi.

“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,” Johnson said. “For me, that’s why I put Gegard 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.

“Jon Jones, look at his grappling, look at his hands, look at his submissions, look at how long he’s been a champion.”

What do you think about Demetrious Johnson’s assessment of the GOAT in MMA?

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