Matt Brown: Werdum no GOAT yet
Matt Brown: “You’ve got to make your own way. The whole ‘greatest of all time’ is not a linear thing. You don’t take that from someone just because you beat them.”
Just because you shot Jesse James, don’t make you Jesse James.
Mike Ehrmantraut, Breaking Bad
On his latest The Great MMA Debate podcast, top UFC welterweight Matt Brown discussed whether UFC heavyweight Fabricio Werdum is the Greatest of All Time. Werdum is on a six fight win streak, has unified the UFC title beating the greatest heavyweight in league history, and was the first person to legitimately beat the greatest heavyweight in MMA history, Fedor Emelianenko. Werdum also won the Mundials, as a black belt, and the ADCCs twice.
But Brown is not ready for a coronation yet.
“He just now got the belt, he just now unified the belt,” said Brown as transcribed by Damon Martin for FOX Sports. “It’s kind of like saying Weidman is the greatest because he beat one of the greatest. You’ve got to make your own way. The whole ‘greatest of all time’ is not a linear thing. You don’t take that from someone just because you beat them.
“Larry Holmes didn’t become the greatest when he beat Ali. It doesn’t work that way.”
Matt Brown fights Tim Means at UFC 189 on July 11, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.