INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- As long as professional sports have been played, the same debate has raged: Who's better and, more importantly, who's the best?
Among Major League Baseball players in the 1940s, the debate between the Yankees' Joe DiMaggio and Boston's Ted Williams was fierce. In the NFL more recently, there was a vigorous battle over whether the best quarterback was Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. And in golf, it's still not settled between Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
The debate in MMA, which has been simmering for the last year, broke out in a big way on Saturday after Islam Makhachev had his way with Renato Moicano in their bout for the lightweight title in the main event of UFC 311 at the Intuit Dome. Makhachev submitted Moicano in the first round with a D'Arce choke to retain his belt and, at least in the eyes of UFC CEO Dana White, overtake heavyweight champion Jon Jones for the unofficial honor as best fighter in the world.
White passionately backed Jones for much of 2024, even when Jones had gone more than a year without a fight. But on Nov. 16, Jones routed Stipe Miocic at Madison Square Garden and stopped him in the second round with a vicious kick.
That seemed to settle it in White's eyes, at least until Friday, about 36 hours before UFC 311 was set to begin. Arman Tsarukyan was supposed to fight Makhachev for the title, but pulled out at 1 a.m. that day citing a back injury. Moicano stepped in to replace him, and when White announced the news on social media mid-morning, he referred to Makhachev as the pound-for-pound best.
When asked at Saturday's post-fight news conference after Makhachev's brutally efficient submission, White said, "Yeah, yeah. I'll give it to him."
Makhachev's reaction to White's phone call telling him that Tsarukyan was out and asking if he'd fight Moicano is priceless. He said "I'm the champion; I'll fight anybody."
And when he attended the post-fight news conference, Makhachev shrugged off any praise for taking the fight at the last minute.
"I don't train for any opponent," he said. "I train to prepare myself. I'll fight anyone."
His resume is impressive, to say the least. He won his 15th bout in a row Saturday, tied with former welterweight Kamaru Usman for the second-longest winning streak in UFC history. He'd tie the legendary ex-middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva's mark if he wins his next one. He hasn't lost since Oct. 3, 2015, when he was stopped by Adriano Martins at UFC 192 in Houston.
In his last five fights, he's beaten ex-lightweight champion Charles Oliveira; he's twice beaten featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski, and he's bested Dustin Poirier and Moicano.
He's a fighter without any discernible weakness, and he is committed to piling up the wins and enhancing his legacy. He wants at least to be a two-division champion, and said he felt he could win a belt at middleweight, as well. Asked if he wanted to try light heavyweight champion Alex Perreira, he laughed and said, "That's too much."
Makhachev is now 27-1 with 18 finishes and he's adding that longevity that he didn't have before.
Jones, a champion at light heavyweight and heavyweight, first won a UFC title in 2011, nearly 14 years ago when Makhachev was just 19.
Jones is 28-1 with a no-contest and he has 17 finishes. Jones might have the edge in the level of competition he's faced, but Makhachev is coming up fast on the outside in that realm, too.
Jones and Makhachev are vastly different people from different cultures, but they're surprisingly alike as fighters. They both have fabulous wrestling, they both prepare meticulously and both have worked hard to bring their striking somewhat close to their grappling.
Jones' only loss came in 2009, when he was disqualified for an illegal elbow that would be legal today.
The difference between them is infinitesimal. If you prefer Jones because of his long reign and because he's never truly been beaten, I won't argue.
If you side with Makhachev because of his activity recently and his growing dominance, you have a good point.
And if you're against Jones because he had an issue with performance enhancing drugs, well, you're not alone. Some great baseball players, including Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, are not in the Hall of Fame for that very reason.
However you want to frame it, there is no denying that Makhachev is a fighter's fighter. He's a ruthless, cold-hearted killer in the Octagon who fights as if he's on a seek-and-destroy mission.
Makhachev and Jones is now the MMA equivalent of DiMaggio-Williams, Brady-Manning and Woods-Nicklaus.
They're two of the baddest man who ever set foot inside a cage or a ring, and defeating either of them is about as difficult as getting all sides to agree on a peace agreement in the Middle East.
There's never going to be unanimity on this issue, but it's a debate that will be vigorous, fierce and plenty of fun while both remain active. At this stage, they've lapped the field and they're competing only against each other.