There is a discussion in every single sport about who is the greatest athlete in whatever particular sport, with older fans normally behind one individual and the newer or sometimes casual fans calling for a new fan favorite to be considered the GOAT.

I obviously have my own personal opinions and I think it is quite difficult to just name one singular fighter for MMA, as there have been many different eras of the sport and with all the differing weight classes it is difficult to name just one singular fighter.

In this article I am going to try and objectively look at 5 fighters who I believe not only changed MMA but dominated their runs not only in the UFC but just overall in the MMA world.

5. Chuck Liddell

Starting off with a fighter than some newer fans might not be aware of is a fighter who dominated MMA in the early 2000’s during a dark period for the sport, but also helped push it into the mainstream. Obviously looking at Chuck Liddell he seems to be what the general public thought an MMA fighter looked like in the early 2000’s. He had a mohawk, tattoos, and looked sometimes more like a bar room brawler than the more athletic frames of MMA fighters today.

This was not the case as Chuck Liddell as he has a degree from Cal Poly where he was a college wrestler. Chuck’s style was very fan-friendly as he primarily used that wrestling background to help keep the fight standing and looked for knockouts during his legendary title run. Liddell’s MMA career began all the way back in 1998 at the UFC 17 event picking up a victory over Noe Hernandez. Chuck suffered his first loss in his 3rd ever fight by being subbed by Jeremy Horn at UFC 19. Chuck then rattled off 10 straight victories on his way to an interim title fight against Randy Couture. At the time Chuck was trying to get a Undisputed title fight against former training partner and new rival Tito Ortiz, but Tito kept citing contract disputes as a way to get away from Chuck.

Chuck would unfortunately lose the interim title fight to Couture, and then went to Pride FC to try and set up a fight with who was also considered at the time as the other greatest 205 pounder in the world Wanderlei Silva. He started off the tournament by beating a young Alistair Overeem but lost in the second round to Rampage Jackson. After returning back to the UFC in 2003, Chuck Liddell would go on another dominant winning streak not losing again for over 4 years. In that time frame he beat Tito Oritz twice, as well as defeating Randy Couture in their second and third fight to conclude their trilogy. Chuck at the time had helped explode the company into the main stream alongside the Ultimate Fighter TV show, was attracting more sponsorships to the promotion and helping to save them from certain bankruptcy.

Although he would lose the title to Rampage Jackson after many title defenses in a row, he did eventually defeat Wanderlei Silva when they met at UFC 79 in 2007. This would however be Chuck’s last win in the promotion as one key factor of Liddell’s career was his granite chin, and his ability to keep taking punishment and weather the storm of his opponents. Chuck would always find a way to finish the fight with the iconic overhand right that garnered him some many important victories in his career.

Liddell’s final three fights in the promotion were the three straight losses to Rashad Evans, Shogun Rua, and Rich Franklin, at this time is was clear Chuck could no longer take a punch as his chin was gone just due to accumulated damage throughout his career. Dana White who was a former manager of Liddell, and a very close friend advised him to retire which he did in 2010.

Although Liddell’s career record is 21-9, which may not be the flashiest record on this list the UFC and MMA in general would not be what it is today without “The Iceman” dominating at 205 for 4 years and keeping the UFC afloat during its dark period but being a great ambassador for the sport and getting it mainstream attention. His dominant fights and the way he changed MMA is why he deserved to be on this list.

4. Stipe Miocic

A more recent addition to the GOAT discussion has been the reigning Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic. He ended his trilogy with Daniel Cormier, picking up two victories over the three fights and still holds the UFC record for most consecutive defenses with the Heavyweight strap, tied at 3. Miocic has spent many years with the UFC dating back to 2011 defeating three men including Joey Beltran, before losing his first fight to Stefan Struve. He again rattled off three straight victories before falling in a decision loss to a former Heavyweight champion in Junior Dos Santos.

After the Dos Santos loss, is truly where Miocic began his reign of dominance over the division going on a six fight run starting with Mark Hunt with a round 5 KO/TKO. This was a huge victory for Miocic as Hunt has been known to have a chin of steel and can take a lot of punishment. So this finish for Miocic meant a lot to his stock in the promotion. He then picked up another win over former champion Andrei Arlovski before facing Fabricio Werdum for the Heavyweight strap which he won with a performance of the night garnering KO/TKO in the first round. He then defended this belt 3 consecutive times before losing the first fight versus Daniel Cormier. He readjusted his game plan and implemented well in the second fight using body shots to eventually set up the fight ending sequence, in a fight that many media outlets and fans believed he was losing up until that point. Then this past August he ended the trilogy with a Unanimous decision victory over Cormier, and solidifying himself in the eyes of many as the greatest Heavyweight of all time.

The reason Heavyweight GOAT gets thrown around a lot is because fighters often do not emerge as a legitimate threat in the division until the later years of their career in the way of meaning late 20’s and early 30’s. Also, many men have defended their respective weight classes’ belt more times than Miocic, but Heavyweight is a tough division to stay consistently dominant at because of constant emerging stars and the threat of one punch knockout power.

The reasoning behind me placing Miocic here does have some to do with although he has been dominant at Heavyweight I feel as though their are better fighters in lower weight classes who have shown more career dominance. I believe Stipe has his toughest test on March 27th as he faces Francis Ngannou in a rematch of their 2018 bout, if Miocic pulls out the victory I think he truly has solidified himself as the greatest Heavyweight of all time. Stipe has also changed the Heavyweight division because of the way he can strike with fighters and deliver some fantastic KO/TKO’s on the feet but as seen in the Ngannou fight he can use his top tier wrestling to get the fight to the ground and control from there.

3. Georges St.Pierre

This may be a little bit controversial to some as I have GSP at three, but I think for his weight class and once again how he influenced the sport of MMA it is the right fit for him as I think the two fighters I have in front of him, have made a bit more of an impact in the octagon. GSP is now retired and boasts an impressive 26-2 record. He debuted for the UFC at UFC 46 with a 5-0 record and defeated Karo Parisyan by a decision after fifteen minutes.

In only his third UFC fight he faced Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes where he suffered his first professional loss after being subbed in the 1st round. He then went back on a 6 fight win streak to get another title shot at huge this time claiming the 170 pound strap by a second round KO/TKO. This was a huge victory still early in his career as at the time Matt Hughes seemed unbeatable and had essentially cleaned out the 170 pound division.

GSP would lose his belt in his first title defense to Matt Serra a TUF Winner, and this would be the final loss he would take in the octagon. He defeated Josh Koscheck in his fight after the Serra loss and then once again reclaimed the belt from Hughes in his trilogy fight to become a 2-time UFC Welterweight Champion.

GSP then defended the belt again against Serra and kept the title this time avenging that loss. The defense over Serra would be the 1st of 10 straight title defenses for St-Pierre beating names such as BJ Penn, Jon Fitch, Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, and Johny Hendricks during that time period. He faced a lot of criticism in the course of his reign due to people perceiving him as having a “safe” style and picking up a lot of decision victories instead of finishing his opponents. After the Hendricks fight GSP would announce a retirement from the cage, and in that time he decided to come out of retirement and challenge for the 185 pound Middleweight strap against then champion Michael Bisping.

The final fight of GSP’s career was a great 3 round back and forth with St-Pierre finding a way to take Bisping’s back and securing a rear-naked choke to win the Middleweight belt and then once again retire at the top of a division. The fact that GSP is a two-division champion and his dominant reign helps to bolster his case for the GOAT discussion.

Another aspect of GSP’s career is that he wasn’t primarily a trash talker and was always very professional against his opponents often being the only fighter at press conferences at the time wearing suits, instead of the common dress code of the time where fighters were wearing Affliction T-shirts and baseball caps.

2. Jon Jones

This might be a controversial take here as Jones is considered by many to either be number 1 or number 2 in MMA and I just happen to be one who thinks he deserves the number 2 slot.

Jones is by far one of the most dominant athletes we have ever seen in the sport of MMA and mauled the majority of his opponents from the start of his career up until this moment. Jones was a heavy touted prospect when he racked up victories against guys such as Ryan Bader, and a fighter such as Stephen Bonnar who he defeated in only his second UFC outing. The only blip on Jones’ UFC record is a DQ loss to Matt Hamill, due to 12-6 elbows.

That is a controversy in itself because Jones was dominating the fight and was in the finishing sequence from mount regardless if the angle of his elbow damaged Hamill or not the fight was over. Jones currently has a 26-1 MMA record, however, it should be a 27-0. Jon’s opportunity at winning the Heavyweight title came on short notice against Maurico Rua at UFC 128 when he won via a 3rd KO/TKO to become the youngest champion in the promotions history. Jon would then go on a record 15 straight title fights and continued retaining his belt as well, with one no contest along the way.

This is where my issue with Jones is because although he has been victorious and looked dominant in many of his fights his outside issues from the octagon have cost him severely. Jones has been stripped of the title belt twice after getting in a hit and run accident and fleeing the scene as well as one testing positive for steroids after the second Daniel Cormier fight. Jones has had many known issues with positive tests throughout his career before seeming to improve more as person after the second Cormier fight as well.

Jones however seemed to not be himself after being stripped the second title and had some very close fights against what some people deemed as lesser competition. Jones had essentially cleaned out the Light Heavyweight division and so the UFC had to find him some new challengers. The first controversial title defense came against Thiago Santos at UFC 239, where Jones was a heavy betting favorite as no one expected the former middleweight to take it to Jones the way he did in the first round.

Santos used a variety of strong leg kicks and pressure to keep Jones at bay while also tearing multiple ligaments in his knee during the first round and essentially having trouble walking. Despite this setback Santos was able to get decalred the winner by one of the judges on the scorecards, the first time Jones had every not won a Unanimous decision in his career. This caused some to question if Jon was still the same.

His next controversial title fight came in his next defense and most recent fight against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 when Reyes again pressured Jones and out struck him 116-104, Jones did land two takedowns and was given a Unanimous decision but many outlets and fans were angry about the fact they Reyes seemed to control the entire fight and felt he was robbed.

Jones then relinquished the title and has declared a move up to heavyweight where he is expected to face newly crowned champion Francis Ngannou sometime later this year for the heavyweight belt. If Jones can dominate at two different weight classes he could switch with my number one on the list.

Khabib Nurmagomedov

The “Eagle” is someone fresh in the mind of everyone as similar to Jones who absolutely dominated every single fighter that stepped in the octagon against him. Khabib retired after his final defense against Justin Gaethje with a perfect 29-0 record and still with the lightweight championship.

The reason I chose the Eagle is more related to what he was able to do inside of the cage, as there was not a single fight where there was doubt as to whether or not he won the fight. Nurmagomedov debuted for the UFC at a 16-0 record and stopped Kamal Shalorus in his first fight inside the octagon. The eagle also set a record for the most UFC takedowns in a fight landing 21 takedowns against Abel Trujillo.

Khabib’s criticism is that he was a more boring style fighter because of his way to just find takedowns and control opponents for long periods of time. I feel as though this speaks to his dominance as being able to hold someone and continue striking them while confining them to one position shows dominance. Khabib’s journey in the UFC did start a little rocky when he had some injuries that delayed a title fight as well as UFC 205 when Conor McGregor defeated Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title, the fight was originally given to Khabib but the promotion went with McGregor in a more money based deal so he defeated Michael Johnson on the prelims.

He then called out McGregor to fight for the 155 pound strap but when McGregor took time off to go fight Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match Khabib continued fighting picking up a dominant win over Edson Barboza and then a title victory over Al Iaquinta at UFC 223. After securing the lightweight title McGregor had come back to the UFC and in one of the most heated rivalries of all time he submitted McGregor in the fourth round of UFC 229 for his first title defense. Khabib defended the belt twice more before retiring against Dustin Poirier and the aforementioned Justin Gaethje.

Khabib also only ever lost two rounds in his career one against McGregor and one in his final fight against Gaethje but other than that, Khabib never even lost a round let alone a judge’s scorecard. I think Khabib is the GOAT due to his just dominance inside the octagon against some of the toughest fighters in the lightweight division and although he has less defenses than Jones, I think his style in the cage speaks for itself.

5. Chuck Liddell

4. Stipe Miocic

3. Georges St.Pierre

2. Jon Jones

Khabib Nurmagomedov