Two-weight women’s champion Amanda Nunes was among the names on UFC president Dana White’s Mount Rushmore of mixed martial arts.
In pretty much every sport, particular individual ones, fans and players are always picking their GOATs and if that’s not the case, they’re at the very least picking their Mount Rushmore. That means choosing four people out of the entire sport based on certain criteria.
White was asked to pick his in a recent appearance on The Schmozone Podcast with regard to the greatest MMA fighters of all time as well as their impact. He started off with Royce Gracie and Nunes before having to think about the remaining two.
“If you’re talking about a Mount Rushmore where their heads are carved in stone forever, you have to go Royce Gracie — no-brainer, have to do that,” White said. “Amanda Nunes. Has to be Amanda Nunes, the greatest female fighter ever. The other two are tough.
“I would have to go with a Jon Jones. The guy’s never been beat and what’s more amazing about him going undefeated — which is incredibly amazing because very few people do it in the sport — is the things that he’s done to himself outside of the Octagon and he still hasn’t been beat.”
White Rounds Out Picks With Chuck Liddell
The last one on White’s Mount Rushmore had a number of contenders. However, the UFC head honcho ultimately decided to go with former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell.
“Number four on the Mount Rushmore…I guess you’d have to go with Chuck Liddell,” White said. “At the point in time, he was as big a star as ever. And it’s almost a coin flip between Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin and they’re both from the same show, the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. Chuck became a massive star, was the highest paid guy in the company at the time and all that stuff.”
There was notably no inclusion for former champions Anderson Silva or Georges St-Pierre, though White did acknowledge that they staked a claim as well.
“… If you look at what Anderson Silva did for Brazil and what GSP did for Canada, these guys who had impact on an entire country — it’s very massive and very strong,” he added.
Conor McGregor surely won’t agree with that list.
