UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping has revealed his mixed martial arts (MMA) Mount Rushmore of fighters, with Conor McGregor a surprise inclusion.

Alongside award-winning combat sports broadcaster Adam Catterall on his YouTube channel, Bisping responded to UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall rattling off his Mount Rushmore.

McGregor made the cut in Michael Bisping’s MMA Mt RushmoreCredit: Getty

Aspinall named Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson and Khabib Nurmagomedov as his top choices.

However, Bisping took an entirely different route with his selections, believing his Mount Rushmore choices should be ‘pioneers’.

The former UFC middleweight champ kicked off by naming Royce Gracie, the man who won the leading MMA promotion’s first-ever event back in 1993.

Bisping then selected Fedor Emelianenko who, despite never competing in the UFC, is widely regarded as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time.

Ronda Rousey earned an ‘honourable mention’ from Bisping for her pivotal role in helping female MMA explode in popularity.

The 37-year-old won 12 straight fights – with eight wins coming via submission due to an armbar – and headlined a UFC card in front of over 50,000 fans in Melbourne.

Several other names were brought into the conversation such as St-Pierre, Johnson, Randy Couture, BJ Penn and Anderson Silva.

The discussion then turned towards McGregor, with Bisping looking at the Irishman’s legacy with the lens of how big a role he played in helping the UFC become a company that turned over £991billion in 2023.

“Let’s remember, the sport’s only 30 years old,” Bisping said.

“Let’s look at this in 100 years’ time from now. Who will be the name that really stands out?

“You can’t deny the impact McGregor has had on the sport, and then bringing it to the next level. I’m the last person to sit here and fluff him up, but you can’t deny that.”

Although McGregor’s career in the octagon has tailed off in recent years having lost four of his last seven bouts, there is no denying the significant intrigue when he fights.

The 36-year-old accounts for eight of the UFC’s top ten best selling pay-per-views (PPV), with his heated battle against Khabib Nurgamedov attracting 2.4m buys.

McGregor was slated to make his long-awaited return to the octagon at UFC 303 in June against Michael Chandler.

Unfortunately he was forced to withdraw due to a broken toe, with no new date scheduled for the bout.