The greatest fighter debate is an evergreen battle in the world of mixed martial arts. While many, including the UFC head honcho, Dana White, believe that Jon Jones is the one who deserves to be at the pinnacle of the list, many others side with Islam Makhachev and Alex Pereira. After dominating the Octagon for so long, Pereira and Jones certainly deserve to be at the top, don’t you think? But there is one more name that has kept appearing in the discussions.

Even though Donald Trump is a pretty good friend to the UFC CEO, he doesn’t seem to agree with his opinion of the greatest fighter of all time. So who does the ex-POTUS believe is the G.O.A.T.? Let’s find out!

Donald Trump sidelined Jon Jones to name an MMA G.O.A.T.

White is indeed a huge fan of the undisputed heavyweight champion. He seldom bows down when it comes to putting Jones at the pinnacle of the pound-for-pound rankings. But the former President of the United States has a certain Dagestani’s name in his mind when it comes to a discussion about the greatest fighter of all time. And no it’s not the P4P king, but rather his mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov!

Not too long ago, during an interview on FullSend MMA, Trump said, “So, a lot of people say Jon Jones is the best… Some people would say Khabib. You know, Khabib. He’s 28-0,or 29-0, and then he retired. His father died, and his father was his manager, and I guess his trainer and all. And he died and he, and he just said that’s it.” ‘The Eagle’ indeed dominated the Octagon during his reign in the lightweight division. And the fact that he went on an undefeated spree greatly impressed Trump along with many other fight fans. 

The former POTUS had a brief interaction with the former lightweight champion at UFC 302. The podcast host brought out that instance and asked Trump if he remembered what the Dagestani fighter talked about. After all, he did seem a bit passionate during the interaction. The former President replied, “Yeah, he’s great. You know what he wanted to talk about? He wanted to say, is there any way you could stop the war, because so many people are being k-lled. So, you know, he has a heart. He’s smart. ‘How can you stop the war?’” Needless to say, Trump was left in complete awe, of the heart that Khabib Nurmagomedov showed. 

Trump had a similar opinion when he last talked about ‘The Eagle’ in an interview with Adin Ross. Even during a conversation on Logan Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast, the former American President didn’t fail to lift the Dagestani high. But that didn’t mean he didn’t think highly of ‘Bones’.

Ex-POTUS gives ‘Bones’ the credit he deserves

Talking to Logan Paul on his podcast back in June 2024, Trump finally praised Jones. He said, “You guys would probably say he’s the best maybe you know probably and certainly; he probably is and they’re very close right Jon Jones a lot of people say.” No doubt, these words left the heavyweight champion in extreme joy. Jon Jones took to social media and shared the video with the caption leaking his satisfaction. 

The video began circling the social media platforms like wildfire. In one of the re-shared posts, a fight fan claimed that Jones might have had many sleepless nights over his GOAT throne. As soon as the champ stumbled upon the comment, he admitted that the fan wasn’t wrong. He wrote, “If you were in my shoes, you would think about it a bunch too. It’s rare to be number one in the world at something. I was never good at anything growing up. So yeah, I’ll fight for this one.”

Nevertheless, as the P4P GOAT debate continues to spew fire across the fighting community, Dana White has taken it upon himself to fix the list once and for all. And he has hinted at seeking out artificial intelligence for help. 

Do you agree with Trump’s take? Out of Nurmagomedov and Jones, who do you think deserves the mantle of the greatest fighter in the world? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.