WATCH: Israel Adesanya brings up former UFC champion as his pick for UFC’s GOAT
Reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya brought up former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson as his pick for the UFC’s Greatest of All Time.
Over the past few weeks, the discussion surrounding who should be considered as the UFC’s greatest fighter of all time has raged on, stemming from the recent retirement announcement of lightweight king Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov, who retired at UFC 254 after defeating Justin Gaethje to defend the UFC lightweight championship, retired as champion with a perfect 29-0 record, prompting fans and experts to elevate his name to GOAT status.
This didn’t sit well with some people, namely former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who took to social media to stake his claim to being the UFC’s best ever.
For Adesanya however, the GOAT title belongs to someone else.
“If we’re talking about ultimate GOATs, did everyone just forget about Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson?” Adesanya said on an episode of Submission Radio.
Johnson was the UFC’s former flyweight titleholder and remains as the promotion’s most dominant 125-pounder ever, holding records in the division for most consecutive wins with 13, most consecutive title fights with 13, and most title fight wins with 12.
Mighty Mouse also holds UFC wins over Ian McCall, Joseph Benavidez twice, John Moraga, John Dodson twice, Henry Cejudo, Kid Yamamoto, and many others.
“If you wanna talk about who was the most consistent - if you’re talking about records - fighter of all time, like, f*ck weight classes,” Adesanya continued. “Just a perfect fighter, or near perfect, never had one blemish outside the Octagon with steroids or anything like that. Never had any real problems inside the Octagon, a few losses here and there to Dominick Cruz and [Henry] Cejudo, blah blah blah,”
Adesanya admitted that at times, Johnson’s Octagon IQ had him stunned.
“If you wanna talk about GOATs, a guy who was just a phenomenal fighter, someone who I watched and would just be like ‘How is his brain processing all that at the same time?’ The suplex to armbar? Bruh, just stop all this GOAT talk and jibber jabber,” he said.
While Johnson is no longer with the UFC, he still continues to dominate at the flyweight division. Mighty Mouse won ONE Championship’s flyweight grand prix in 2019 to earn a shot at the promotion’s reigning flyweight champion Adriano Moraes in the future.
Israel Adesanya on track to join GOAT conversation as well
If he isn’t already being discussed as one of the UFC’s GOATs, Israel Adesanya could very well be on his way.
The young middleweight champion has already taken out three of the best in his division in Robert Whittaker, Yoel Romero, and Paulo Costa, and in 2021, he’s looking to add even more gold to his waist.
As was announced earlier this week, Adesanya will be heading up to the light heavyweight division to challenge reigning champion Jan Blachowicz.
If Adesanya can beat Blachowicz and join the elite class of two-division champions in the UFC, then he would definitely enter the GOAT conversation as well.