Following Khabib Nurmagomedov’s recent win over Justin Gaethje, there has been a lot of debate about whether he or Jon Jones is MMA’s GOAT. For Joe Rogan, the debate is one that clearly favors the former light heavyweight champion.
Rogan may not have been cageside calling the action for Khabib’s potential last fight, but he was still able to witness the utter destruction the Dagestani placed upon Justin Gaethje. Although Gaethje was able to steal round one on the judge’s scorecards, Khabib blew through the NCAA All-American in the second round, taking him down, mounting him, and then choking him unconscious in the span of just a few seconds. This left him atop the pound-for-pound rankings the following week, and it also made many people discuss his place as the one of the Greatest of All Time, largely alongside former light heavyweight champ Jon Jones.
Joe Rogan Says Jon Jones Is The GOAT
This big performance sparked debate in the MMA community over the debate of who the GOAT is. For Joe Rogan, he believes that Jon Jones is the Greatest of All Time. Speaking on a recent episode of the JRE, he explained how Jon’s early resume rivals Khabib’s, and his ability to overcome adversity and still come out on top has not been shown by Khabib, and until then it is hard to think of him as the greatest ever.
“That is the argument right, like who is the GOAT?” Rogan said. “I think if you look at Jon Jones’s early career, Jon Jones wins the title early in his career, in 2011 and from then on has fought more fights as championship fights than any other fights. So he’s the most accomplished for sure. Wins the title, youngest guy to ever win the title in the UFC, beats Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua who’s a legend, then the way he dominates all these other fighters…
“Up until he gets to Alexander Gustafsson you can make the argument that he had a similar career (as Khabib),” Rogan continued. “If you look at what he did. Jon didn’t lose any rounds, Jon was smashing people. Look at what he did to Rashad Evans, look what he did to Rampage Jackson, look at what he did to Lyoto Machida. Everybody he fought, up until the Gustafsson fight. But then with the Gustafsson, how much slack do you give him for admittedly not training?
“Look at the way he beat Daniel Cormier in the first fight,” Joe Rogan said. “Took him down, like who the f–k takes Daniel Cormier down, right? Then you look at the second fight, even though it was ruled a no contest we all know what the f–k happened. He headlocked (Cormier) and stopped him. It was spectacular.”
As impressive as these accomplishments are, Joe Rogan knows there are some knocks on Jon Jones inside the Octagon. His last couple of fights were close and controversial, something that has never been a problem for Khabib. However as dominant as Khabib has seemed, Joe still admits that Jon’s total resume is much better.
Do you agree with Joe Rogan, that Jon Jones has a better overall resume than Khabib Nurmagomedov? Who tops your list of MMA’s GOAT?