UFC featherweight Max Holloway will once again challenge for the title at UFC 276 this weekend, when he faces reigning champ Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski. Holloway and Volkanovski both have been the subject of rife debate surrounding the title of greatest featherweight of all time, but Holloway himself told the assembled press at the UFC 276 media day that they’ve all forgotten the real GOAT: Jose Aldo.
“Not at all. Not at all. A lot of fans, a lot of people are saying it. Did we forget the man Jose Aldo? The man got eight title fights. Eight title wins, actually. I have five title wins, and until someone can beat his records as a champion with the eight title wins, then they can consider themselves the GOAT in featherweight. I got five. To be here, against Alex to get my sixth title win. That’s just the cherry on top.”
Holloway Names Jose Aldo the Featherweight GOAT
Max Holloway’s five title wins certainly place him in elite territory, but this weekend he faces a man against whom he has lost twice. Alexander Volkanovski has not lost a fight since he was a welterweight back in Australia, and with his two wins over Holloway looms as a potential featherweight GOAT candidate. Not irrelevant, either, is Volkanovski’s victory over Jose Aldo himself, albeit when Aldo was past his prime.
Alexander Volkanovski currently stands ranked #2 pound for pound fighter in the UFC rankings, behind only welterweight king Kamaru Usman. Max Holloway is not far behind, at #6. What’s on the line this weekend, according to Max Holloway, is more than the UFC title. It’s his legacy, and Volkanovski’s legacy, that matters more at this stage of their careers.
“Legacy. This is a legacy fight, 100 percent. You guys all know what pound-for-pound ranking he is, you guys know what pound-for-pound ranking I am. We’re on the upper end of the pound-for-pound ranks, and these don’t happen in the past decade.
It did only once come to mind and that’s DC [Daniel Cormier] and [Jon] Jones, so this is a legacy fight. This is huge in every way. People are calling us the main event of this card and thats saying a lot. It’s saying a lot about this fight.”
The massive legacy bout is only one fight on a heavily stacked card that also features a title fight for Volkanovski’s City Kickboxing teammate Israel Adesanya taking on Jared Cannonier, and rising star Sean O’Malley fighting Pedro Munhoz.
Which way do you see Holloway vs Volkanovski 3 going? Let us know in the comments.
