Who’s on Justin Gaethje’s Mount Rushmore of MMA? Reigning UFC Lightweight Champion Shares His Picks
Justin Gaethje’s UFC career has been quite the rollercoaster. He entered the Octagon as the undefeated WSOF lightweight champion and quickly established himself as one of the most entertaining and violent fighters in the sport.
“The Highlight” made an impressive UFC debut against Michael Johnson, but things quickly got tougher as he dropped back-to-back fights to Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez. Gaethje bounced back in a big way, eventually beating Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 to capture the interim lightweight title.
However, his shot at becoming the undisputed champion ended with a loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov. For years, it looked like Gaethje might never get his hands on undisputed UFC gold, but that finally changed when he stopped Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250.
That victory added another major chapter to Gaethje’s already impressive résumé and put him firmly into the conversation among the sport’s all-time greats. But what about Gaethje’s own list? The reigning 155-pound kingpin recently revealed his personal MMA GOAT picks, and there was one pretty surprising omission.
Justin Gaethje snubs Khabib Nurmagomedov from his personal MMA GOAT list
For years, the debate has regularly revolved around names such as Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, and Anderson Silva. Unsurprisingly, those three also made Gaethje’s list when he appeared on the One Night with Steiny podcast.
Gaethje was asked to name his Mount Rushmore of the greatest fighters ever, but he wasn’t interested in limiting himself to just four names. He said, “Mount Rushmore is such a hard question. How many fighters do I get? Four? F**k that! Why not six? I’ll make my own.”
He then revealed his picks, saying, “Royce Gracie, Anderson Silva, GSP, Jon Jones, and Chuck Liddell. I think that’s it.”
JUSTIN GAETHJE LEAVES KHABIB OFF HIS MOUNT RUSHMORE — AND PICKS JON JONES INSTEAD
“So Royce Gracie, Anderson Silva, GSP, Jon Jones…”
When asked if Khabib obviously belongs on the list:
That gives Gaethje’s personal top five:
— FightLuck (@FightluckBet) September 26, 2026
… That list has plenty of familiar names, but one name was noticeably absent: Khabib Nurmagomedov. When Gaethje was specifically asked whether Nurmagomedov would make his list, he didn’t hesitate. He said, “No, not mine.”
The omission is particularly interesting considering Gaethje was brutally honest about his chances against Nurmagomedov. During the same interview, Gaethje admitted that he possibly could not have beaten “The Eagle” in their UFC 254 title unification fight. The American managed to win the opening round on two of the three judges’ scorecards, but he knew just how much it had taken out of him.
He said, “I beat him [Khabib] in the first round on two of the three scorecards, and it took everything in my body to win that first round. I wasn’t going to win after that.”
That assessment makes Gaethje’s decision to leave Nurmagomedov off his personal GOAT list even more intriguing. After all, Gaethje knows firsthand how difficult it was to deal with the former lightweight champion.
Nurmagomedov eventually submitted him in the second round at UFC 254, handing Gaethje the first undisputed title loss of his career. And when the possibility of a rematch came up from the host during the chat, Gaethje didn’t exactly suggest that he had some secret weapon that could have changed the result.
Instead, he remained realistic about what happened the first time around. Still, GOAT lists are personal, and Gaethje clearly has his own criteria for who belongs among the greatest to ever compete in MMA.