Add Tom Aspinall to the list of fighters who believe Georges St-Pierre is the GOAT.
Aspinall recently put on the best performance of his career to date, submitting Alexander Volkov in the first round with a straight armbar at UFC London. The win earned Aspinall a Performance of the Night bonus and caused fans to sing his name outside the O2 Arena in celebration, but for Aspinall, the biggest highlight of the weekend was the love he was shown by the UFC Hall of Famer, Georges St-Pierre.
“Let me just tell you, this morning, the greatest UFC fighter of all-time, GSP, commented on my picture,” Aspinall told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. Oh my goodness. … Honestly, I had goosebumps. It was unbelievable. GSP, man! Oh, my goodness .”
The debate over the title of greatest of all-time in MMA is a semi-permanent one in MMA, with fighters like Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Demetrious Johnson, and lately, Khabib Nurmagomedov being thrown in the mix. However, for Aspinall, the answer is easy.
” Of course, he is No. 1, who else is it gonna be?” Aspinall said. This is my opinion: GSP was the first to do it in both weight divisions. Also, GSP had some bad losses and came back. This is what I consider a true champion. Of course you can be like Khabib, and you can be all the rest of it, and that’s brilliant, but what does he do under the adversity? We still don’t know because he’s that much better than everybody else. Two weights is, in my view, the difference. The two weights.”
This is a bad criteria for Aspinall who will never be able compete in the lightweight division. However, the Manchester native has his own GOAT to track down before he can concern himself with the broader GOAT discussion: Stipe Miocic.
“In my opinion, Stipe is the best heavyweight of all-time,” Aspinall said. He deserves an immediate rematch. Stipe doesn’t get the love he deserves, in my opinion.”
Aspinall may get a chance to test himself against Miocic soon enough. Aspinall is now No. 6 is the UFC’s heavyweight ranking and there’s talk that Aspinall might face his interim title as heavyweight champion.
