Donald Trump is no stranger to the world of mixed martial arts. Back in 2001, ‘The Apprentice’ star hosted UFC 30 at his former casino, ‘The Trump Taj Hotel’. Ever since then, the ex-POTUS and UFC head honcho Dana White have nurtured a close relationship. Owing to his ties with White, Trump has made his presence felt in multiple UFC events, most famously at UFC 244 where he was present cage-side as the then sitting president of the US. Most recently, he made the news again for his long-awaited appearance on Joe Rogan‘s podcast.

The JRE #2219 with Trump garnered more than 7 million views within hours of it being aired. Among other things, the former contentious duo spoke extensively about MMA. Amidst this, Trump put forward the age-old question of MMA GOAT to Rogan. The color commentator said, “There are a lot of arguments for who is the greatest of all time. Jon Jones [is who] most people would say is the greatest of all time. He never lost – there’s certainly a very good argument for that. There’s another argument for Georges St. Pierre. I always love BJ Penn in his prime, and Anderson Silva in his prime. You know – Mighty Mouse. People forget about Mighty Mouse because unfortunately, he’s a smaller guy – 125 lbs, the flyweight champion.”

That’s when the business mogul interrupted Rogan to mention the former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov to which Rogan replied, “Khabib is fantastic. If you look at accomplishments, in terms of championship fights, Khabib retired at 29-0, but he didn’t have as many world-championship fights”. To this, Trump countered with Khabib’s stellar in-ring dominance and him rarely losing a round in his entire career. Rogan rightfully reminded Trump that the Dagestani may have dropped a round against Gleison Tibau. While many also speculate that Nurmagomedov also lost the third round against Conor McGregor in their bout.

The duo further talked about fighter longevity. This conversation put forward the controversial decision that a lot of fighters took and put themselves in acrimonious spots by staying in the game way past their prime. Names like Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, and now Tony Ferguson immediately come to mind.

“If they stopped a little bit sooner” – Donald Trump discusses athletes fighting way past their prime with Joe Rogan

The realm of MMA has always been a grueling affair. The nature of the sport demands extreme physical and mental tenacity, and the window for performing at a peak level is very short. Usually, fighters in their mid-30s are considered old and are on their way out. Perhaps Donald Trump favors Khabib Nurmagomedov as his favorite fighter because ‘The Eagle’ retired ‘early’ at the age of 32.

While discussing the greats in the UFC and MMA, Trump alluded to how some fighters fought way past their prime. Here’s what the former POTUS said, “If they had stopped a little bit sooner, they [would have] had the perfect record. They were unbelievable. And then, at a certain age, they start getting knocked out, right?”.

Rogan expertly put forward the belief fighters hold to become champions, which is why they are never really able to hang up the gloves before kissing the fabled gold. In other cases, fighters grow habituated to greatness in a way that they drop their guard and pay dearly for that mistake. This is when Rogan and Trump went on to discuss Anderson Silva. ‘The Spider’ had a virtually perfect record before devastatingly losing to Chris Weidman at UFC 162. The Brazilian then suffered a freak accident in their rematch, breaking his shin bone and after these losses, he was never quite the same again. Ultimately, ‘The Spider’ retired in an empty arena going 1-7-1 in his last nine bouts.

A more recent example of a fighter staying in the game for too long is Tony Ferguson. ‘El Cucuy’ was once the most ferocious lightweight in the world with his relentless pace and ‘in your face’ pressure. However, with eight straight losses after a 12-fight win streak, Tony Ferguson serves as a cautionary tale for any fighter looking to extend their career beyond its warranty.

What do you think about fighters chasing greatness past their prime? Do you agree with Joe Rogan and Donald Trump about their picks? Let us know in the comments section below.