Georges St-Pierre knows he’s in the conversation for the MMA GOAT, but he believes Royce Gracie has that honor.
With St-Pierre set to be inducted to the UFC Hall of Fame this year, he was asked if he believes he is the GOAT. For the Canadian, he says the GOAT conversation is a subjective thing but believes Royce Gracie has that honor.
“What does being the best of all-time mean?” St-Pierre said to UFC.com. “If it’s to compare every athlete who competed at their time and who was the most dominant at their time, who had the most achievements, for me it’s Royce Gracie. If you talk about who’s the strongest guy, if you would put everybody in the cage, who would come out alive, I think it would maybe be Fedor Emelianenko in his prime. If you talk about the more flamboyant guy, the one who did some crazy stuff that you only see in movies and stuff like that, I would say maybe a guy like Anderson Silva or Vitor Belfort. If you say the more well-rounded guy, I would say maybe Demetrious Johnson. If you ask about who’s the guy who faced the most adversity, maybe Jon Jones. But whoever you name, it’s a subjective thing, it’s an opinion.”
Although Gracie is not normally a name in the conversation, St-Pierre does make a good point. The Canadian also believe the best ever is still not born given how new MMA is.
“There’s a lot of guys for different reasons who could be considered a GOAT, and there are pros and cons, but I truly believe it does not exist, because if you talk about who’s the best, I think the best has not even been born yet,” St-Pierre explained. “Royce Gracie, as magnificent as he was, he was the number one guy and he achieved things that still today have not been achieved – if you would put him in the cage against the competition today and ask how he would do, he would not do well because the sport has changed. The technology has become better.”
