If you wanna discount Jones resume because he popped and pick a natty goat, it's Fedor and it's not close. Sorry virgin GSP fans
- Better wins
What does this mean? Every time GSP fought before he ghosted for 4 years was against the #1 contender. If anything they only fell off the hype train AFTER GSP beat him. Fedor fought a bunch of excellent fighters, true, but he also fought cans like Brett Rodgers during his "prime", and let's not even look at his most recent fights.
A matter of opinion which I would agree with but this doesn't mean shit when determing who is the best MMArtist and therefore GOAT.
- Never ducked anyone or cherry picked
Who did GSP duck or cherry pick? For 6 years he fought the best the UFC welterweight division could throw at him. I suppose during his comeback he could've/should've came back at WW and fought Woodley, so +1 there, but with that logic Fedor 'ducked' the UFC his entire career.
Mmmkay you like the big boys, good for you, again has no bearing on relevancy toward GOATness. If anything HW has been the most shallow division the most often. WW has always been murderers row.
- Didn't get sparked out in his prime
Not sure what this mean. Is this in reference to the Matt Sera KO? Hey man when grown ass killers throw bones sometimes the better man loses, it happens. I'm glad it did, it made GSP come back stronger and showed us all that no man is superman. I guess you could argue that by the time Fedor lost he was out of his prime but it's kind of a weak argument, if you're a professional fighter and you lose it effects your record and your legacy, and aside from stuff like Liddel/Ortiz 3 that we saw where Liddel was clearly a shell of himself, Fedor has straight up lost and lost more convincingly than GSP to less-skilled opponents more often.
You like the big boys who bang, bro, I get it, so do I, but again this doesn't mean shit when talking about the GOAT. GSP is arguably the most intelligent fighter to enter the octagon, the fact that he could outstrike strikers and outwrestle wrestlers speaks to his greatness, you can't fault him for winning in the most efficient way possible.
- Didn't leave the sport after tasting defeat and being tested
Wat. He left the sport after a close fight against Johnny Hendricks. Fedor never left, true. I guess if you're calling GPS a quitter you get a +1 but I find it weird calling into question the honor and courage of a man who fights professionally for a living and hardly judge him for wanting to step away for awhile.
Except against Chael, Maldonado, Hendo, Matt Lindland, Mark Hunt (I guess he weights less but he's taller and had the reach), and probably a bunch others that I'm not gonna check. Other than about half his fights, though, you're right.
- Still putting on exciting fights at 42 years old
Agreed. Again, though, no relevance to his GOATness. We're talking about GOAT not who fights the most, if so then Travis Fulton and Jeremy Horn must fight in a deathmatch to take the crown.
The man is a gladiator and the most humble champion of all time
No doubt, totally agree, again though has no relevance to his GOATness.
There is a solid case for Fedor as GOAT, but it's by no means 'not even close'. GSP, Fedor, and Jones all make solid arguments, and given that GSP both fought in the UFC most of his career and never had substance issues I think it's hard to deny objectively that he should be considered the MMA GOAT until show otherwise. And I'm a huge Fedor fan, btw.