A win at UFC 285 makes Jon Jones the undisputed GOAT
In almost every sport, the GOAT conversation is a heated point of discussion. That holds true for MMA as names like Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Demetrious Johnson and Khabib Nurmagomedov are often included in the GOAT debate.
Jones has a chance to end that debate with a win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 to win the UFC heavyweight championship.
The GOAT discussion is currently unsolved. Personally, I give the nod to St-Pierre. His welterweight run was special, and he was able to top it off with a middleweight championship to become a two-division champion. Although, if someone were to argue Jones was the GOAT, I would not put up a fight.
I am less bullish on the aforementioned names of Johnson, Silva and Nurmagomedov. All of those fighters are great in their own right, I just do not think they are the greatest of all time.
To be clear, I am not making the argument that Jones is not the GOAT right now. That is not the point of this post. Instead, the point is that a win at UFC 285 would end the GOAT debate. It would be almost foolish to make an argument against Jones. I have to admit, the failed drug tests and arrests are an issue, but the octagon performances, resumes and accolades scream the greatest of all time.
The Impact of UFC 285
The reason that a win at UFC 285 would make Jones the GOAT is that it fills the only gap between his resume and St-Pierre’s: the fact that St-Pierre was a two-division champion.
A win a UFC 285 makes Jones a two-division champion. It is really that simple. The only relevant accomplishment that St-Pierre has that Jones doesn’t could be gone in a couple of days.
Not to mention, getting a win over Gane to win the heavyweight championship is far more impressive than getting a win over Michael Bisping to win the middleweight championship.
I know I boiled down this complex issue down to one accomplishment, but I do not think I need to sit here and talk about how many title defenses Jones has in comparison to St-Pierre or any other fighter. It is simple, Jones is one win away from yet another incredibly rare accomplishment. If he gets that win, it is nearly impossible to make the claim that Jon Jones isn’t the MMA GOAT.
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