RIGHT after Khabib Nurmagomedov’s dominant victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, the conversation of who is the greatest of all time (GOAT for brevity) started doing the rounds.
Apparently, the trigger was Khabib himself who expressed his sole fervent request from the UFC to place him at the top spot on the pound-for-pound rankings as he announced his retirement.
BONES. Out of nowhere, Jon Jones became salty on his Twitter account, ranting how things should just be given away nowadays since all that Khabib had to do was ask for it.
Right off the bat, I knew Jones was barking up the wrong tree. Khabib never proclaimed, much less asked, to be considered the GOAT.
All he wanted was to be honored as the sport’s best fighter just as he walked away from it. This much was pretty apparent during the post-fight interview.
In fact, a few days prior to the Gaethje fight, he was a guest on ESPN’s “First Take” and he was asked point blank on what it would take to be considered the GOAT and Khabib nonchalantly answered it would take a couple more fights.
So you see Jon, there’s no need to mope about it. Khabib never alluded to you. Nor was he trying to covet that mythical title you so apparently have arrogated unto yourself.
It’s not that I disagree on your take that you are the GOAT. It’s just that it’s in poor taste for you to be so defensive about it when Khabib was just having his moment. You’re annoyingly beginning to sound like Lebron James.
RICO. The Last Round tolls the bell for a fellow sportswriter, Rico Navarro whose sudden demise left me in shock. I regretfully belatedly found out only after he had already been buried. Rico had a beautiful soul, and we always got along famously. We were kindred souls. Aside from our UP Diliman roots, we shared a lot in common with our passion for boxing and basketball. Our last endeavor together was I was invited as one of his guests on board the Bleacher Talk live as we talked about boxing inside a bubble online last August.
He was so many things to different people and this much you can gather from the tributes and eulogies. My favorite moniker for him was “Rico Suave” because he seemed so calm and collected whenever he announced fights on top of the ring. Gutted is a word that probably describes how I feel. Goodbye, my friend. I know you are in a better place.
LAST ROUND. It’s on Audrey Rose Garganera, better half of Cebu City Councilor Joel “Panday” Garganera who recently celebrated her birthday. Cheers!