Islam Makhachev won’t go up much in GOAT talks even with UFC 322 win, says MMA legend
Islam Makhachev won’t move up too much higher in the greatest of all time rankings even if he wins at UFC 322, says MMA legend Matt Brown.
On Saturday night, Islam Makhachev will attempt to join a very exclusive group when he challenges Jack Della Maddalena for the UFC welterweight championship. If he wins, he will become a two-weight UFC champion, and he will do so against an opponent that many believe will cause him a lot of problems.
Of course, Islam Makhachev is already considered to be one of the best lightweights to ever do it, but in order to reach ‘GOAT’ status or even come close, you need to do something seriously special in the sport of mixed martial arts.
In a recent interview, Matt Brown weighed in on where Islam Makhachev will be in these standings, in his mind, if he can get through JDM at MSG.
Matt Brown has interesting view on Islam Makhachev at UFC 322
“He’s the greatest lightweight of all-time,” Brown said about Makhachev on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “I think that’s pretty much set in stone. I think that’s done. I don’t know what this does for him in terms of greatest of all-time type thing or pound-for-pound or anything. Because he’s already up there with all of that.
“He’s still got a long way to go to be one of the all-time greats when you’re talking about the Anderson Silva’s and the Jon Jones and people like that. He’s got a long way to go for that so you can’t just put him there yet.
“The idea of being double champ accelerates that. You’ve got to keep the winning streak going because that’s what the other guys did. I think that’s the only issue there really. You’ve got to have more time in the game. So really it just kind of solidifies where he’s at right now is where he belongs. He’s got to be top three pound-for-pound right? It’s not moving him up a ton in my book [among the all-time greats], right or wrong.”
Quotes via MMA Fighting
