Conor McGregor Finally Answers The Question: Who Is The GOAT?

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So, to recap, Conor McGregor's GOAT rankings are as follows:

1. Anderson Silva

2. Conor McGregor

3. Georges St-Pierre

4. Jon Jones

Say what you will about where he placed himself - you kinda had to expect he'd be up there in his own mind, Conor's self-belief is what makes him who he is - but his rankings and reasoning for where he placed the three others is pretty fascinating to me.

For starters, he considers Anderson Silva to be the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, and says that is due mostly to the array of different stylistic finishes Silva defeated the opponents on his resume with....

At that point, you're really looking into the mind of how Conor McGregor views the sport of mixed martial arts, and it's not too different than how one of his biggest idols, Bruce Lee, viewed it: as an art-form. 

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Then, he places himself in at #2, and says by the end of his career he'll easily surpass Anderson Silva and earn the #1 spot. Gotta love hearing Conor talk like that if you're a #TeamMcGregor guy. Earn that legacy champ!!

At #3, he slides in Georges St-Pierre, and more-or-less says he could've had a higher ranking had he not "played it safe" in his career. He considers GSP retiring after the controversial Hendricks win and then only coming back to fight Bisping (the one-eyed fighter) playing it safe. I assume the haters will now have a laundry list of things to say about Conor's opponent selection across his career, but I'll just reiterate what Dana White always has about The Champ Champ - Conor McGregor has never turned down a fight in his life. He returned after years away from the sport and immediately challenged Khabib for the UFC Lightweight Title. Whatever.

Then, Jones comes in at #4, and Conor explains that he's not at #1 because he fought a lot of the same people that Anderson Silva did, but wasn't able to put up the array of finishes the Silva did. Oh, and because he popped for PEDs a bunch, although Silva did as well. Just not as much, I suppose.

Again, this is an argument that really just depends on how you define greatness in martial arts. There's not a ton of stats to back up the GOAT argument. It's more of a feeling thing. 

Many of you have been asking me if I agree with Conor's analysis….

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….and I do not….

If you remove Conor from the discussion, however, here's how I've always ranked the other three….

1. Georges St-Pierre

2. Jon Jones

3. Anderson Silva

….Jones would be #1 if not for his repeated drug test failures, controversial decisions, and eye-poking, but that's just not the case. Oh well! 

Can't wait to see Conor overtake that #1 spot.