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This weekend at UFC 273, Alexander Volkanovski is set to make the third defense of his featherweight title when he faces Chan Sung Jung in the event’s headline bout.
Alexander Volkanovski is widely expected to defeat ‘The Korean Zombie’ to successfully defend his crown, but is he the greatest featherweight in UFC history?
While the Australian still has time to cement himself as the promotion’s GOAT at 145 pounds, there’s definitely an argument that he is already there.
With that in mind, here are five reasons why Alexander 'The Great’ Volkanovski is the UFC’s featherweight GOAT.
#5. Alexander Volkanovski has no clear weaknesses
Any fighter looking to be considered the greatest of all time in their weight class has to have pretty tremendous skills inside the octagon. It absolutely goes without saying that Alexander Volkanovski’s skills are second to none.
While the Australian has proven himself to be an offensively excellent fighter, punishing his opponents in all areas and taking out the likes of Chad Mendes and Brian Ortega, perhaps the most outstanding aspect of his game is the fact that he has no glaring weaknesses.
Even genuine greats like Anderson Silva, Matt Hughes and B.J. Penn had clear-cut weaker points inside the octagon. When they were eventually beaten, it was because their opponents discovered those Achilles heels.
Volkanovski, though, like Georges St-Pierre, for instance, does not seem to have a single weak point that can be targeted. He came out on top in a striking bout with Max Holloway, arguably the best boxer in the UFC, and displayed phenomenal skills in the clinch and in terms of wrestling in other bouts.
Most recently, he showed that it’s seemingly impossible to submit him when he escaped some horrendously tight spots against Brian Ortega, who is probably the most dangerous grappler at 145 pounds.
Essentially, any fighter looking to find Volkanovski’s achilles heel will probably be looking for a very long time. While nobody is invincible, the champ seems close, which is why he’s the UFC’s featherweight GOAT.
#4. Alexander Volkanovski is riding an insane winning streak
The other two contenders for the position of the UFC’s featherweight GOAT would be Jose Aldo and Max Holloway. Part of what made both men great was the fact that they went on lengthy winning streaks in the promotion.
Aldo was famously unbeaten in MMA between 2005 and 2015, and won a total of seven straight bouts in the octagon before being dethroned by Conor McGregor at UFC 194.
Holloway, meanwhile, reeled off an insane 13-fight win streak from 2014 to 2019, winning the UFC featherweight title in the process. His streak ended at the hands of Dustin Poirier, but that loss came at 155 pounds. He won another fight at 145 before falling to Volkanovski in 2019.
Where does Volkanovski’s win streak sit in comparison? While not all of his bouts in the octagon have come at featherweight, it looks pretty good.
The Aussie has not lost a fight since 2013 and that defeat came at welterweight. In the years that have followed, he’s won a total of 20 fights in a row, including 10 in the octagon, with nine of those bouts coming at featherweight.
Essentially, then, he’s already beaten Aldo’s winning streak when it comes to UFC fights and a few more wins would move him past Holloway, too.
When you consider that a number of Holloway’s wins came over weaker opponents, too, it’s arguable that Volkanovski’s win streak is already superior, creating more evidence that Alexander 'The Great' is the GOAT at 145 pounds.
#3. There’s nobody on the horizon that would be favored to beat him
For all of their greatness, it’s hard to deny the fact that some UFC champions look more vulnerable than others. That’s usually because there’s at least one monstrous challenger waiting in the wings who would be favored to beat them.
For instance, nobody is expecting Glover Teixeira’s reign as UFC light heavyweight champion to last long, primarily because of how dangerous Jiri Prochazka, Magomed Ankalaev and Aleksandar Rakic appear to be.
In contrast, though, the UFC has no featherweight on the horizon that would be favored to beat Alexander Volkanovski right now.
‘The Great’ has already overcome the top two contenders in the division in the form of Max Holloway and Brian Ortega. If he beats Chan Sung Jung this weekend, he’ll have knocked off another of the top five.
More importantly, would anyone really favor Yair Rodriguez, Arnold Allen or Calvin Kattar to defeat the Australian? It’s doubtful. There doesn’t even appear to be a red-hot prospect climbing the ranks who has the ability to dethrone him.
Therefore, if he continues to fight at his current level, Volkanovski’s title reign could go on for some time yet, cementing him as the UFC’s featherweight GOAT.
#2. Alexander Volkanovski has never been beaten at featherweight
Unlike in the world of boxing, nobody really frowns upon an MMA fighter who has a number of losses on their record. Anderson Silva, for instance, is widely recognized as one of the sport’s all-time greats,and yet he fell to defeat on no fewer than 11 times during his lengthy career.
However, a fighter with few losses on their ledger is obviously going to be considered closer to GOAT status than one with more defeats, hence why the likes of Jon Jones and Georges St-Pierre are so highly regarded.
In the case of Alexander Volkanovski, then, if we go by losses – or lack thereof – it’s hard to dispute the idea that he should be considered the UFC’s featherweight GOAT.
The Aussie has never been beaten at 145 pounds, despite facing the highest-level opponents possible for the past four years. The only loss of his career came when he was fighting at 170 pounds. Due to that, it’s probably fair to simply overlook it.
Even Max Holloway suffered losses on his way up the ladder at featherweight, with the largely unheralded Dennis Bermudez being responsible for one of those defeats in 2013. Jose Aldo, meanwhile, has suffered a number of defeats since being dethroned by Conor McGregor in 2015.
Will Volkanovski eventually lose in the octagon? In all honesty, it’s inevitable, but judging by his current form, by the time that happens, he could be ready to hang up his gloves anyway.
Essentially, a fighter who avoids defeats as much as he does deserves to be recognized as the GOAT in his weight class.
#1. Alexander Volkanovski has already beaten the other potential GOATs at featherweight
As the old saying goes, “to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man.” In many instances, the same saying works when it comes to becoming the GOAT in one of the UFC’s weight divisions.
Matt Hughes, for example, was widely considered the greatest welterweight of all time before Georges St-Pierre dethroned him in 2006 and went onto firmly usurp that position.
In turn, the fact that GSP then stepped away before someone did the same to him is probably the main reason why many fans never expect Kamaru Usman to surpass his legacy.
Of course, beating a consensus GOAT doesn’t always allow a fighter to take that spot – it’s about what happens next. Chris Weidman famously dethroned middleweight GOAT Anderson Silva, but never took that spot because he quickly fell in turn to Luke Rockhold.
What does this mean for Alexander Volkanovski? Well, he’s got wins over the other two potential GOATs at featherweight in the form of Jose Aldo and Max Holloway. Of course, that goes heavily in his favor.
However, the fact that he actually holds two wins over Holloway and has also beaten two other generational talents in Chad Mendes and Brian Ortega means that it’s even harder to deny his position.
Fans could argue for Aldo, Holloway or Volkanovski when it comes to the position of the UFC’s featherweight GOAT, but only one possesses wins over both of the others and that’s Alexander 'The Great’ Volkanovski.
