UFC President Dana White has never been shy about giving his opinion on a fighter’s talents. During his pre-fight rounds for UFC 270 White demonstrated this during a sit-down with Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole. With Iole, White revealed his top MMA all-time greats.
Despite the conversation being around the top three fighters in history, White couldn’t help but expand his personal list to four.
“I picked Jon Jones. I picked Kamaru Usman. [Georges St-Pierre] … Anderson Silva,”
When asked why former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov didn’t make his list, White revealed that, in his logic, ‘The Eagle’’s achievements didn’t measure up to ‘The Spider’’s.
“Anderson just did more. He was there longer. The dominance of Khabib is unbelievable. And like you say, it’s a different day and era with different levels of skills.”
Names not brought up by White include a pair of fighters who he has previously lavished with praise, both for their impact on the sport and their brief spells of dominance: Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey.
Other names who didn’t get a look-in with White are current UFC featherweight champion Amanda Nunes, former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko.
White’s omission of ‘The Last Emperor’ shouldn’t come as a surprise. He’s been consistent in undermining Emelianenko’s stature in the sport, ever since he failed to sign the PRIDE icon for the UFC.
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