Will the MMA GOAT Please Stand Up? Doubts about GOAT Talk in MMA

MMA is still evolving, so GOAT-talk is premature.

The history of mixed martial arts (MMA) has a long history extending back at least to the Ancient Greeks with their version of physical combat known as ‘Pankration’ (meaning ‘all powers’). Fast forwarding to near-present day, the contemporary world was broadly introduced to MMA through the efforts of companies like the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and other companies too. The idea behind MMA is to allow fighters, unlike boxers and wrestlers, to employ mixed techniques from across various and distinct fighting styles like kickboxing, karate, wrestling, and judo, in part, to establish which fighting styles are most effective. As the CEO of UFC, Dana White, explains,

Actually, the father of mixed martial arts, if you will, was Bruce Lee. If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought, and many of the things he wrote, he said the perfect style was no style. You take a little something from everything. You take the good things from every different discipline, use what works, and you throw the rest away.

On of the features of MMA is that acts as an athletic venue to determine which fighting techniques work in the octagon, and which techniques do not. The debate here still rages, but there is a means of testing and verifying what techniques work and what techniques fail.

‘I Am the Greatest’: What Makes a GOAT, a GOAT?

As MMA has grown in popularity, fans and commentators across the United States, Europe, Asia, and elsewhere, not only which fighting techniques are best, but also which MMA fighter is the greatest of all time (GOAT). The issues of GOAT status is debated by fan and commentators in many sports, so it should be no surprise that MMA as a professional sport would follow. Some MMA fans argue that we should decide GOAT status based on factors like the fighters overall record (wins-to-loses), while others add that skills and records should also be factors. Or perhaps we should include whether a fighter has been a champion in multiple weight classes in deciding their GOAT status. This thin conception of GOAT-hood only focus on factors tightly related to fighting ability and success.

There is a thick conception of GOAT-hood though: fighting ability and success is only a subset of factors that also include honor and life outside the octagon. Here not only do fighting ability and success factor into what someone the greatest, but also how they conduct themselves when they are not fighting in the octagon or training in the gym. There are MMA fighters who are better and worse on this measure, where some live good lives and threat others well (e.g. George St. Pierre, Max Holloway), and others who seem to view the martial arts greatness as only about fighting ability and success (and ticket sales) with little real emphasis on their actions outside the octagon (e.g. Conor McGregor, Jon Jones). The point is not to take a position in this debate, but to highlight the fact that settling the issue of what criteria decide MMA greatness is a necessary step in settling the issue of who, if anyone, is the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.

Too Soon to Tell? The Evolution of MMA

Not only has the sport of MMA evolved as an ever growing legitimate sport with an expanding fan base, but also in terms of fighting technique. The average MMA fighter has improved in their ability to stop a takedown, throw a leg kick, and guard against a submission. This is to be expected as the pool of talented fighters increases, and fighters collectively spend more time practically in their art. As famed UFC commentator Joe Rogan explains:

I just think the level of competition [Usman] faced is higher. GSP [George St. Pierre] was so good he raised the bar, but, you look at GSP’s victories. He beat some very good guys, but I think the guys Kamaru Usman beat — Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal, Tyron Woodley — […] are better.

Rogan isn’t alone. Other commentators observe that,

Stylistically, the difference between the MMA pioneers and modern-day fighters is so enormous that one could easily believe the sport had evolved for a longer period! Although we observed many styles dominating over others, the only successful style in today’s competition incorporates a hybrid mixture of various forms of striking and grappling. MMA gyms have become combat laboratories, constantly producing different training systems and adding new elements.

Many commentators agree that the sport of MMA is evolving and will continue evolving into the future. There is substantial room for growth in fighting techniques, training regimes, nutrition and exercise guidelines, and in many other areas of the sport too. And as has already been noted by commentators, we have historical evidence that the sport has already substantially evolved. The point here is that the current state of MMA as a combat sport is but one stop along the road to more sophisticated and developed sport. The sport will keep evolving, producing greater and ever more impressive mixed martial artists.

Here we should pause to consider the implications of MMA evolution. When evaluating who, if any, current MMA fighters should be a candidate for GOAT status, it is worth remembering that the title belongs to the greatest (MMA fighter) of all time. This title is special in that is only applies to that fighter who, by robust measure, is the greatest MMA fighter to ever engage in the combat sport—the title of the MMA goat is an honorific title that uniquely designates one, and only one, fighter as the greatest MMA fighter ever. This is a form of what philosophers and logicians call a definite description: an assertion about an individual, referring to that individual using a property that uniquely refers to them. For example, the man who shot President Abraham Lincoln is a definite description that refers to a property—the property of having shot Lincoln—that solely picks out John Wilkes Booth. The designation of MMA Goat also operates like a definite description in that it refers to a property—the property of being the best MMA fighter ever—that uniquely picks out a single individual.

However, if the GOAT designation in MMA is a definite description, then there can only be one fighter with the unique property of being the best MMA fighter ever. And because the sport is evolving, it is tough to establish whether the MMA GOAT resides among current or past fighters, or whether the fighter has yet to appear in the octagon. And if MMA continues to evolve, then it could easily be that the MMA GOAT hasn’t yet made an appearance. Discussions of who qualifies as the MMA GOAT are at best premature, and at worst unjustified.