Will Alexander Volkanovski topple Jose Aldo as the featherweight GOAT if he beats Ilia Topuria? Breaking down the MMA debate

Next month at UFC 298, featherweight kingpin Alexander Volkanovski will hope to make another successful defense of his title when he takes on top contender Ilia Topuria.

Alexander Volkanovski will be coming into the bout off the back of the first knockout loss of his UFC career in his failed attempt to claim lightweight gold against Islam Makhachev last October.

However, the Australian is still likely to be favored to defeat ‘El Matador’ and retain his title. If he does so, should he be recognized as MMA’s featherweight GOAT?

For some, ‘Alexander the Great’ should be recognized as such already. However, there is, of course, another candidate for this title: former UFC featherweight titleholder Jose Aldo.

To many fans, the Brazilian, and not Alexander Volkanovski, will always be seen as the GOAT at 145 pounds. So who really has the edge? It’s worth looking into.

---

The case for Jose Aldo as the featherweight GOAT

Outside of perhaps the heavyweight division, where many fans would suggest Fedor Emelianenko remains the GOAT despite never fighting in the octagon, MMA’s true greats tend to be the fighters who dominated their weight class in the UFC.

In that sense, there has never been a featherweight in MMA history as dominant as Jose Aldo. The Brazilian legend still holds the record for the most defenses of the UFC featherweight title, with a total of seven to his name.

Even if Alexander Volkanovski defeats Ilia Topuria next month, he’ll still need to secure two more successful defenses to break this record, which is a pointer as to how impressive Aldo’s achievement remains.

More to the point, Aldo didn’t just dominate the featherweight division when it was introduced by the UFC in 2011. He’d already been dominant in the WEC at 145 pounds for two years at that stage, defending that promotion’s featherweight title successfully on two occasions.

If you essentially consider the WEC title as the equivalent to the UFC title, then Aldo’s total number of defenses would actually be nine, putting him up with Anderson Silva and Demetrious Johnson.

However, looking at it like that is only looking at half of the story. The reason that the UFC didn’t promote fighters who weighed 145 pounds and under was the belief that the fans simply weren’t interested in watching them.

The popularity of the WEC largely proved that idea wrong, but it was the first WEC pay-per-view, which was headlined by Aldo’s title defense against Urijah Faber, that proved it.

WEC 48 managed to draw 178k buys on pay-per-view, a figure largely unheard of at the time for any MMA event not promoted by the UFC.

It’s arguable that the event’s success was the catalyst in the decision to fold the WEC and install the lighter weight classes in the UFC, and if that’s the case, then Aldo arguably paved the way for every smaller fighter to grace the octagon since, including Alexander Volkanovski.

What about his fighting style? Sure, Aldo didn’t always finish his foes, dispatching just two opponents via TKO during his run as champion, but he definitely dominated the majority of them. Until he lost to Conor McGregor in 2015, in fact, it’s arguable that only Chad Mendes really pushed him to his limits in their second fight.

That loss to McGregor, as well as the largely disappointing end to his career overall, stand as a black mark on Aldo’s reputation.

After all, the Brazilian not only lost to ‘The Notorious’, but he also fell to Volkanovski, suffered two defeats to Max Holloway, and lost three times during his brief run as a bantamweight.

However, after losing his title, Aldo still managed to briefly hold an interim crown after beating Frankie Edgar for the second time, and beat three tough opponents – Marlon Vera, Pedro Munhoz, and Rob Font – at 135 pounds despite being past his prime.

Should Aldo have hung up his gloves before the summer of 2022? There’s definitely a fair argument to suggest he should’ve, but with wins over the likes of Mendes, Edgar, Chan Sung Jung, Kenny Florian, Ricardo Lamas, Vera and Jeremy Stephens to his name, it’s difficult to find holes in his resume.

With that considered, there’s an argument to suggest that Alexander Volkanovski won’t be surpassing the Brazilian’s legacy any time soon unless he adds at least two or three title defenses to his ledger, starting with Topuria.

---

The case for Alexander Volkanovski as the featherweight GOAT

If you rewind back to 2019, many fans would’ve suggested that Max Holloway was well on his way to surpassing Jose Aldo’s legacy as the UFC’s featherweight GOAT.

After all, the Hawaiian had beaten Aldo twice, both via TKO, and had dominated everyone he’d fought for years, including the likes of Cub Swanson, Anthony Pettis, and Jeremy Stephens.

Since then, of course, ‘Blessed’ has fallen not just once, but three times at the hands of Alexander Volkanovski. Sure, the first two bouts between the rivals were relatively close, but the third was a whitewash in favor of ‘Alexander the Great’.

So does this mean that the Australian can stake a claim to being the GOAT in his own right? Absolutely.

Right now, Volkanovski has five successful title defenses to his name. Since unseating Holloway for the title at UFC 245 in 2019, he’s beaten ‘Blessed’ in two rematches, and has also dispatched Chan Sung Jung, Brian Ortega, and Yair Rodriguez.

A win over Ilia Topuria next month, then, would bring his total number to six, meaning he’d require just one more victory to equal Aldo’s record.

However, there’s definitely an argument to suggest that Alexander Volkanovski has defended his title against more difficult opponents than Aldo did. The Brazilian certainly fought some tough foes during his title reign, but many of them could be talked down in hindsight.

Mark Hominick, for instance, was largely a journeyman figure who claimed his title shot largely because he was a Canadian hero fighting in Toronto. Kenny Florian was a starved lightweight who’d only fought at 145 pounds once before. Frankie Edgar made his featherweight debut to challenge Aldo, and Jung blew his shoulder out in his title bout with the Brazilian.

That leaves two defenses against Chad Mendes and one against Ricardo Lamas. While the way Aldo dealt with both men was impressive, it’s definitely fair to suggest that Alexander Volkanovski beating Holloway three times and smashing Ortega and Rodriguez is superior.

Add in Volkanovski’s pre-title wins over Mendes, Darren Elkins, and Aldo himself, and it’s hard not to argue that the Australian holds a better record than the Brazilian.

What of Volkanovski’s failed attempt to become a double champion? ‘Alexander the Great’ pushed lightweight kingpin Islam Makhachev all the way in their first clash, but in their second, he suffered a devastating knockout via head kick.

However, it’d be unfair to hold this brief run at 155 pounds against the Australian, just as it’d be unfair to talk Aldo’s legacy down based on his weaker run as a bantamweight.

With all of this considered, the superior strength in competition could be seen to give Alexander Volkanovski the edge in this argument.

---

Jose Aldo vs. Alexander Volkanovski: Who’s the GOAT?

There’s a debate in every weight class in MMA and in the UFC around who the GOAT is, and outside of a couple of exceptions, these debates are always close. Featherweight is no different.

It’s fair to say that there’s a clear-cut argument for both Jose Aldo and Alexander Volkanovski to hold this title, and a lot depends on your perspective.

Historically, it’s hard to argue against Aldo’s claim. Not only did he dominate 145 pounds for the best part of a decade, but he also helped to shine a new light on the weight class, meaning that the likes of Volkanovski, as well as others like Max Holloway and Chan Sung Jung could become stars.

To add to this, while ‘Alexander the Great’ has defeated better opponents than the Brazilian, this could be put down to the overall evolution of MMA. After all, Georges St-Pierre is still considered the welterweight GOAT, but none of his victims would be likely to beat Leon Edwards or Kamaru Usman, for instance.

Therefore, while Alexander Volkanovski is close, Jose Aldo probably still has a very slight edge in this debate. If Volkanovski can beat Topuria in a few weeks time, though, then it’d perhaps be fair to revisit the debate and reconsider.