Greatest of all time. GOAT. No four words are as powerful a trigger today as this.
I am not going to talk about who I think is the GOAT to repeat the arguments that you have heard from sports commentators and analysts or read on the Internet and social media. Besides, I very rarely engage in this conversation, and when I do, it is when people ask me to share my opinion, and I always leave it at that.
I have always believed that the Greatest of All Time need not be universal and unanimous. It is about you and me picking that one athlete we think is the best among the rest, and we do not have to have the same answer. The GOAT is a personal truth.
It is natural for us to have different choices. That’s okay. That makes it fun. Any conversation about the GOAT should begin with these parameters. It should be an exploration of another person’s point of view, not an opportunity to try to bend and break and anger other people.
I subscribe to the idea that many athletes have earned the right to be considered as the GOAT. It is clear who deserves to be there in that rarefied, and who does not.
I am not going to talk about who I think is the GOAT. But I want to argue as to why I think one person does not deserve consideration.
I am making no bones about Jon Jones.
So what makes an athlete great? Is it just his/her skills and accomplishments? And what makes someone the greatest among the greats? Some people will say we should rank and appraise athletes based on their athletic record and performance – partially correct and completely antiquated. Here is the Charles Barkley sports morality of the early 90s: judge me as an athlete, not a role model.
It is not asking too much if we ask athletes to be role models because the bare minimum for this task is to be a law-abiding citizen, which is the same thing we ask of everyone else. So if you cannot at least be a good citizen, how can you even consider yourself a great athlete?
Douglas T. Putnam, in his book Controversies of the Sports World, wrote: “That talent can become so captivating that it becomes the base on which much nobler characteristics—humility, courage, wisdom, concern for others—are mounted.”
So let us talk humility: Khabib Nurmagomedov just announced his retirement after an emotional win sans his father, who recently passed away. Jon Jones had to take a jab at the Russian MMA fighter because he wants the public to know he is the real GOAT, not Nurmagomedov.
Tywin Lannister’s words to his grandson Joffrey Baratheon comes to mind: “Any man who must say I am the king is no true king.”
Now, let us talk about concern for others. In 2015, Jon Jones fled a hit-and-run. He returned later to grab some cash from his car and then took off again. The injured victim was a pregnant woman.
Jones said this after he was given 18 months of supervised probation and was required to make 72 youth outreach/charity appearances: I hope you can give me an opportunity to redeem myself.
Five years later, Jones was arrested for drunk driving and firing a weapon.
He also had a DUI arrest back in 2012, and between then and now is a string of other controversies (cocaine use and suspensions because of doping).
So how is Jones—the first fighter in UFC history to be stripped of a title twice—the greatest of all time in UFC?
Those considered as Greatest of All Time excel at two things: being a good athlete and being a good person.
Jon Jones may be good at what he does, but he is not the greatest of all time.