When asked last fall in a media scrum ahead of UFC 281 in New York, featherweight champion and pound-for-pound king Alexander Volkanovski took a somewhat tepid approach to the question of where he fits in among the greats in 145-pound history.
"I still look at [Jose] Aldo as the G.O.A.T. of the featherweight division," Volkanovski said. "Obviously, I'm still planning to take that, right? I plan on winning. I want to defend, defend, defend. I plan on getting just as much defenses as him. And especially when you look at the resume and who I've fought, a lot of people are going to agree that I'm up there."
With all due respect to Aldo (31-8), the 2023 UFC Hall of Fame inductee whose combined seven UFC/WEC title defenses have long set a standard for the division, it might be fair to start questioning entering Saturday's fifth title defense at UFC 290 in Las Vegas whether Volkanovski is on the verge of passing him.
It's a question that feels timely considering Volkanovski (25-2), who came incredibly close to upsetting lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in their razor-thin February showdown, might be entering the final bout of his memorable run as a UFC featherweight. The 34-year-old native of Australia will also face off with red-hot interim champion, Yair Rodriguez (15-3, 1 NC), who remains the last elite 145-pound foe from his era that Volkanovski has yet to defeat.
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Should Volkanovski decide, win or lose against Rodriguez, to remain at featherweight, there are still big fights available in the form of a fourth meeting with Max Holloway or an eventual fight opposite rising contender Ilia Topuria. Neither of those fights, however, offer much in terms of historical advancement, which is often the case when an elite fighter has cleaned out a division.
Volkanovski once weighed 215 pounds as a semi-pro rugby league player and he proved in stifling the much larger Makhachev's vaunted wrestling attack that the 5-foot-6 star could handle himself at the larger weight, which makes the idea of a big-money lightweight title rematch potentially too big to pass up.
So where, exactly, would Volkanovski stack up against Aldo historically should he add yet another dangerous name to his featherweight resume in the form of Rodriguez? Probably better than you might think.
Yes, Aldo still holds the record for title defenses and a great deal of his deserved legend comes from the fact that he went a full 10 years and one month of his prime without losing when he recorded 18 straight wins between 2006 and 2015. But Volkanovski ran off 22 consecutive wins over a stretch nearly just as long (three months shy of 10 years) until the Makhachev fight and is 15-0 overall in his career as a featherweight (his first pro loss in 2013 came at 170 pounds).
Notable wins for Aldo, Volkanovski
| Jose Aldo | Alexander Volkanovski |
|---|---|
Cub Swanson (2009) | Jeremy Kennedy (2018) |
Mike Brown (2009) | Chad Mendes (2018) |
Urijah Faber (2010) | Jose Aldo (2019) |
Kenny Florian (2011) | Max Holloway (2019, 2020, 2022) |
Chad Mendes (2012, 2014) | Brian Ortega (2021) |
Frankie Edgar (2013, 2016) | Korean Zombie (2022) |
Aldo not only set a standard for featherweight dominance, the UFC grandfathered him in as its inaugural 145-pound champion following the merger with WEC without having to win a vacant belt. And the names he defeated within the division read like a who's who of featherweight history: Cub Swanson, Mike Brown, Uriah Faber, Manny Gamburyan, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes (twice), Frankie Edgar (twice), Chan Sung-Jung, Ricardo Lamas. None of the above can be taken away from him.
But if there's a great equalizer when comparing resumes of those who competed in the same era it's head-to-head results, which unmistakably points more fondly in the direction of Volkanovski, who is two years and 20 days younger than Aldo.
Although Volkanovski didn't make his UFC debut until after Aldo had his legendary featherweight reign ended by one punch against Conor McGregor in 2015, the two did share the Octagon in 2019.
Aldo, then 32, appeared reborn following consecutive knockout defeats of Jeremy Stephens and Renato Moicano, but Volkanovski didn't just prove to be the better fighter that night in securing a unanimous decision in Aldo's home city of Rio de Janeiro, he noticeably frustrated the Brazilian into not throwing en route to identical 30-27 scorecards. Even worse, Aldo almost appeared complacent with defeat while being so thoroughly disarmed.
The comparison only gets worse for Aldo when considering the two rivals also shared a historically significant common opponent in Holloway who, himself, belongs in the greater discussion of featherweight deity. Aldo was violently knocked out twice against Holloway in 2017 to snap his second 145-pound title run while Volkanovski owns three wins against the beloved Hawaiian star, including a beatdown in their trilogy last July that left Holloway both bloodied and without excuses.
Even with his reputation for not being a finisher against elite featherweight foes, outside of knockouts he owns against Mendes and "The Korean Zombie," Volkanovski has been more dominant than Aldo against arguably better competition when comparing just their UFC runs against one another.
The King of Rio's road to the #UFCHOF 🇧🇷👑
— UFC (@ufc) January 22, 2023
[ @JoseAldoJunior | Presented by @ToyoTires ] pic.twitter.com/WiyNDLIe8Z
While few could touch the three-year reign of terror that Aldo had in the WEC, scoring seven stoppages in eight wins, the division slowly caught up with him once he came to the UFC where he scored just two stoppages in his first seven fights before being sparked in 13 seconds by McGregor. Volkanovski's UFC run has not only been slightly better, the division has yet to figure him out (outside of a close call in his second fight with Holloway and a brief submission scare against Brian Ortega).
Rodriguez isn't just the last elite featherweight from Volkanovski's era that he has yet to defeat, he's arguably the most dangerous one the champion has yet to face due to the combination of his speed, power and unpredictable delivery. Yet, it's just business as usual for Volkanovski, a 4-1 betting favorite, who could be one more big featherweight win away from getting undisputed status as the best 145-pound fighter UFC has ever seen.
"I truly do believe in my skills and what I'm capable of," Volkanovski said. "That's what I am known for -- good fight IQ, the never-die attitude. All the right stuff and stuff that is very hard to teach.
"I want to show yous that I can systematically break anyone down, even at their own game. I've done that plenty of times before and you're going to see that [on Saturday]."
Watching the next generation of great fighters make a run at history's most beloved favorites is never easy (and few are as beloved and revered as Aldo). Yet if Volkanovski gets past Rodriguez and then conquers Makhachev in a new division should they rematch in the future, historians might need to start another Volkanovski-led debate upon greatness which extends far beyond the confines of the 145-pound division.
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