{"id":39992,"date":"2026-08-19T07:11:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Islam-Makhachevs-UFC-GOAT-case-gets-pushback-from-former-champs-202431"},"modified":"2026-08-19T07:11:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:11:22","slug":"islam-makhachevs-ufc-goat-case-gets-pushback-from-former-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/islam-makhachevs-ufc-goat-case-gets-pushback-from-former-champs\/","title":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev’s UFC GOAT case gets pushback from former champs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Former
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> fighters and champs have weighed
\nin on whether Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> has earned GOAT status.<\/p>\n

The Russian defended his welterweight title for the first time at
\nUFC
\n330<\/a>, picking up his fifth defense overall in the UFC after a
\ndominant run at lightweight. His latest win, a decision victory
\nover Ian
\nGarry<\/a>, served as a record-breaker, with Makhachev now the
\nleader for most consecutive wins in promotional history.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Chris
\nWeidman<\/a>, Dustin
\nPoirier<\/a> and Jorge
\nMasvidal<\/a> have offered their takes on where he stands among the
\nsport’s greatest fighters.<\/p>\n

Chris Weidman questions Islam Makhachev’s title defenses as
\nDustin Poirier backs Jon Jones for UFC GOAT<\/h2>\n

In the latest episode of \u201cDeep Waters,\u201d Weidman, Poirier and
\nMasvidal shared their thoughts on whether Makhachev has earned the
\nright to be called the greatest fighter in UFC history. \u201cI am not saying that yet,\u201d Weidman said, responding to the
\nquestion about Makhachev being the GOAT now. \u201cBecause I\u2019m still old
\nschool\u2026 Title defenses mean a lot and you go back to Anderson
\nSilva<\/a> or Demetrious
\nJohnson<\/a> if we\u2019re ever talking about GOAT\u2026 I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s
\nthere yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poirier then chimed in, giving a definitive answer for who he
\nconsiders the GOAT.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, Jon
\nJones<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Masvidal, meanwhile, pointed to the level of competition Makhachev
\nfaced during his lightweight title reign. While the former BMF
\nchamp acknowledges Alexander
\nVolkanovski<\/a> as one of the greats, he emphasized that many of
\nMakhachev’s 155-pound title defenses came against former
\nfeatherweights.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo of those title defenses at lightweight were to a \u201845er,\u201d
\nMasvidal said before Weidman pointed out that Charles
\nOliveira<\/a> also previously fought at 145 pounds.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Has Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> earned GOAT status? pic.twitter.com\/38qMXm5ZTf<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount)
\nAugust 18, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters and champs have weighed in on whether Islam Makhachev has earned GOAT status. The Russian defended his welterweight title for the first time at UFC 330, picking up his fifth defense overall in the UFC after a dominant run at lightweight. His latest win, a decision victory over Ian Garry, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}