UFC president Dana White has named Royce Gracie, Amanda Nunes, Jon Jones and Chuck Liddell as his choices for a hypothetical Mount Rushmore of the sport - with no room for Irish legend Conor McGregor
The Notorious recently retired from fighting for a third time, but he is considered one of the best mixed martial artists ever following his record of 22 wins and four defeats.
However, speaking in an appearance on The Schmozone Podcast, White made no mention of McGregor when choosing his top four UFC heroes.
“If you’re talking about a Mount Rushmore where the heads are carved in stone forever, you have to go Royce Gracie. No-brainer, have to do that,” White said. “Amanda Nunes. Has to be Amanda Nunes, greatest female fighter ever. The other two are tough.
“I would have to go with a Jon Jones. The guy’s never been beat and what’s more amazing about him going undefeated — which is incredibly amazing because very few people do it in the sport — is the things that he’s done to himself outside of the octagon and he still hasn’t been beat.
“No.4 on the Mount Rushmore, I guess you’d have to go with Chuck Liddell. At the point in time, he was as big a star as ever."
McGregor's latest 'retirement' has been met with widespread cynicism - and one fellow fighter believes it is simply a negotiating tactic.
Ben Askren, who himself retired from mixed martial arts last year, is among those who expects to see the Dubliner back sooner rather than later.
He tweeted: "See, he is negotiating, I'm expecting Conor vs Justin (Gaethje) in July on Fight Island."
Indeed, a lack of available opponents is one of the reasons McGregor has seemingly called time on his career.
"They should have just kept the ball rolling," he told ESPN. "I mean, why are they pushing [Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje] back to September?
"They should have just done the fight - me and Justin for the interim title - and just kept the ball rolling."
