Kamaru Usman picks Georges St-Pierre and three other fighters for his Mount Rushmore of the welterweight division
Kamaru Usman shared the names of fighters he would like to see on Mount Rushmore of the welterweight division.
In a recent interview with Mark Raimondi of ESPN, Kamaru Usman was asked to pick the best MMA welterweights in the history of MMA. Usman picked MMA pioneers Pat Miletich and Matt Hughes along with himself and UFC great Georges St-Pierre. However, Usman pointed out the subjective nature of such arguments. He cited Georges St-Pierre's assessment of the evolution of MMA to admit that each generation of fighters is going to be better than the previous one.
"If you had to look at some of the best ever in the division, I would have to say of course you have to put Georges St-Pierre there. I hate to do it but I will have to put myself in that conversation because I think I am probably one of the most if not the most well rounded one out of everyone. It's just because the sport has evolved so much. So I think I'll throw Pat Miletich in there as well. Pat was a savage. A lot of people don't realize that because it was a while ago... You've gotta put Matt Hughes in there as well. So if you're gonna give me four, i will put those guys," Kamaru Usman said.
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial sculpture in South Dakota features carved faces of United States Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The leaders symbolize the birth, growth, development, and preservation of the USA and its values.
One of the earliest mentions of an MMA Mount Rushmore can be found in a 2011 article by Scott Harris. Unlike the "Greatest of all Time" (GOAT) argument that revolves around the personal achievements of a fighter, Mount Rushmore is a concept that honors the pioneering figures that played a major role in revolutionizing the sport of MMA.
Kamaru Usman's list embodies three generations of UFC welterweights
The fighters on Kamaru Usman's list are dominant champions from three different eras of mixed martial arts. Pat Miletich is an MMA pioneer and UFC's inaugural welterweight champion that defended his title four times. Matt Hughes carried the torch in the earliest days of UFC's divisional format, and Georges St-Pierre represented the first generation of modern mixed martial arts that could truly mix grappling and striking aspects of combat sports. GSP (12 wins) and Hughes (9 wins) hold the record for most title fight victories in the welterweight division. Kamaru Usman is the only active fighter on the list and belongs to the current era of MMA. He embodies the evolution of MMA with an uber-dominant ground game and lethal striking.
However, UFC's welterweight division is one of the most stable divisions in the promotion's history. Instances of the title-changing hands are far less in the 170 lbs division than others. To put it into perspective, there have been over 40 fighters in UFC history that lost their title without defending. Only three 170 lbs champions surrendered the title during their first defense: Carlos Newton, Matt Serra, and Johny Hendricks. Every other welterweight champion has secured it at least two times during their title reign.
The reigning UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, currently occupies the No. 2 spot in UFC's pound-for-pound rankings. Kamaru Usman will attempt the fourth successful defense of his title against No. 4 ranked welterweight Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261 on April 24, 2021.