Brendan Fitzgerald calls Volkanovski the consensus GOAT featherweight

[blaseblase]

The UFC shows so much disrespect to their older fighters when it comes to promoting new fights. They pulled the same shit with GSP. And I bet when a new dominant featherweight emerges with half the title defenses of Volk they will start calling him the GOAT as well. It's like you're only the GOAT as long as you're active and selling ppvs.

 

[chinarice]

Your best bet is to not take any UFC shills seriously when it comes to who they are proclaiming the GOAT. They don't actually think for themselves and just spout off whatever the script tells them to.

 

[Mike]

Yeah they're pretty shameless with this shit. Whoever they're trying to promote right now is the goat. They must think we're idiots.

 

[Question]

Although I think Volk is the closest of this generation to become the GOAT of their division, I still put Aldo ahead at this moment.
Two more solid defenses could put him at the top spot, it just depends how well he performs and who he beats. Topuria is for sure a big test and winning that would mean a lot for his legacy.

 

[Left Hook Lacy]

They even tried/try to pull this with Stipe lol.

 

[Kb7]

They also tried to the same thing with Anderson.

 

[Dr Fong]

Time to lay out some unpleasant facts again. Aldo has an 0-4 record vs the other 3 FW champs, getting knocked out 3 times and 30-27d the other time. He was only aged 29-32 when this all happened.

Better yet, and this stat triggered some people yesterday, Aldo's common opponent (that he won against) record vs Conor/Max/Volk is 0-7.

So not only could Aldo never beat any other FW champ, but nobody he ever beat could ever beat them either.

He only has one more championship fight win than Volk in the UFC. Volk will equal it with a win over Topuria (Aldo will have an extra interim). Volk is undefeated at FW. Volk's record against other FW champs is 4-0.

If you seriously rank Aldo as the GOAT above the man who 30-27d him in his home country knowing he was also destroyed by Max and Conor, then you have no credibility.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Yup, me and all my friends agree

 

[blaseblase]

Time to lay out some unpleasant facts again. Aldo has an 0-4 record vs the other 3 FW champs, getting knocked out 3 times and 30-27d the other time. He was only aged 29-32 when this all happened.

Better yet, and this stat triggered some people yesterday, Aldo's common opponent (that he won against) record vs Conor/Max/Volk is 0-7.

So not only could Aldo never beat any other FW champ, but nobody he ever beat could ever beat them either.

He was the first FW champ, ya moron. You just made up a completely useless stat. How many fighters has Jon Jones beaten that became champion after he did? Oh, also zero?

He only has one more championship fight win than Volk in the UFC.

Even if you discard Aldo's WEC title defenses this still wouldn't be an accurate claim. No one's going to take you seriously if you insist on lying, and poorly at that.

 

[fortheo]

Time to lay out some unpleasant facts again. Aldo has an 0-4 record vs the other 3 FW champs, getting knocked out 3 times and 30-27d the other time. He was only aged 29-32 when this all happened.

Better yet, and this stat triggered some people yesterday, Aldo's common opponent (that he won against) record vs Conor/Max/Volk is 0-7.

So not only could Aldo never beat any other FW champ, but nobody he ever beat could ever beat them either.

He only has one more championship fight win than Volk in the UFC. Volk will equal it with a win over Topuria (Aldo will have an extra interim). Volk is undefeated at FW. Volk's record against other FW champs is 4-0.

If you seriously rank Aldo as the GOAT above the man who 30-27d him in his home country knowing he was also destroyed by Max and Conor, then you have no credibility.

Your stat triggered nobody. You were factually shut down and then said "look at this useless stat as a bonus"

The fact that you're still rambling about that nonsense stat after already acknowledging that it's pointless tells us all we need to know about your agenda here.

He was the first FW champ, ya moron. You just made up a completely useless stat. How many fighters has Jon Jones beaten that became champion after he did? Oh, also zero?


Even if you discard Aldo's WEC title defenses this still wouldn't be an accurate claim. No one's going to take you seriously if you insist on lying, and poorly at that.

I shut it down yesterday and he spiraled into nonsense. You can say the same shit about 99 percent of champs. Woodley's competition did bad against usman, usman's comp is doing bad against Leon. Faber's comp did bad against Aldo, aldo's comp did bad against Conor and max, conor and max's comp did bad against Volk. It is the absolute norm divisional turn over rate, and this guy holds it against Aldo because he's clearly not arguing from rational but from his feelings.

 

[Poirierfan]

Your best bet is to not take any UFC shills seriously when it comes to who they are proclaiming the GOAT. They don't actually think for themselves and just spout off whatever the script tells them to.

Yup, totally agree, it's a fucking shame. They'll say whatever they're told to generate revenue, no matter how absurd it comes across.

 

[Dr Fong]

He was the first FW champ, ya moron. You just made up a completely useless stat. How many fighters have Jon Jones or GSP beaten that became champion after they did? Oh, also zero?


Even if you discard Aldo's WEC title defenses this still wouldn't be an accurate claim. No one's going to take you seriously if you insist on lying, and poorly at that.

Jones beat Cormier and Glover. GSP beat Serra and Hendricks. (Also beat Condit who should have been full if not for an all-time robbery). Not zero, ya absolute moron.

Aldo was still young when the other FW champs emerged. Just like Hughes, BJ, Hendricks for GSP. These three guys traded wins, losses and close fights, GSP just ended up on top.

Aldo never beat a past, present or future UFC FW champion. GSP and Jones beat a bunch of past, present and future champs of their division.

 

[fortheo]

Although I think Volk is the closest of this generation to become the GOAT of their division, I still put Aldo ahead at this moment.
Two more solid defenses could put him at the top spot, it just depends how well he performs and who he beats. Topuria is for sure a big test and winning that would mean a lot for his legacy.

Aldo's 11 title victories is going to be very difficult for Volk to match, but what volk does have going for him that can make the argument more convoluted and interesting is the fact that Volk is undefeated at FW where as Aldo lost 4 times at FW, including to volk himself. If volk gets a few more defenses and retires undefeated at FW, even if he is a few title victories short from Aldo's record, I might argue he's the goat.

Right now though, the gap is large enough where I can look over aldo's losses and still have him as the goat, but the gap is closing.

 

[NoSmilez]

It is hard to compare but I believe Volk might be able to distinctly pass Aldo when his career is over. Right now they are somewhat close to each other. I don't really have a preference. I understand Aldo has a strong streak and many years on top but I also understand that matchmaking is different now. Maybe the quality of opponents are much better too. It's not Aldo's fault either. It's just the way the game has changed.

 

[NoSmilez]

Aldo's 11 title victories is going to be very difficult for Volk to match, but what volk does have going for him that can make the argument more convoluted and interesting is the fact that Volk is undefeated at FW where as Aldo lost 4 times at FW, including to volk himself. If volk gets a hand full more defenses and retires undefeated at FW, even if he is a few title victories short from Aldo's record, I might argue he's the goat.

Right now though, the gap is large enough where I can look over aldo's losses and still have him as the goat, but the gap is closing.

Volk beat Aldo and Max. You remember when people were proclaiming Max as the next FW GOAT. At some point he had an over ten fight win streak until Dustin stopped it.

 

[Private Whatley]

He was the first FW champ, ya moron. You just made up a completely useless stat. How many fighters has Jon Jones beaten that became champion after he did? Oh, also zero?


Even if you discard Aldo's WEC title defenses this still wouldn't be an accurate claim. No one's going to take you seriously if you insist on lying, and poorly at that.

Glover and DC

 

[RockyLockridge]

I think FW is the hardest division to pin the tail on the goat, so to speak.

Jose and Volk have vastly different careers. Volk is not over yet. he for sure could pass aldo. just not sure he's there yet. It'll be easier to see when their careers are over.

But it's worth noting that currently, volknovski is undefeated at FW. Somehting that aldo and max never were to begin with in the UFC this is a nice bonus. He's undefeated at FW with 3 wins over max and a win over aldo. So essentially the entire short list of best FW's in the UFC have lost to him.

 

[fortheo]

Glover and DC

Lol, because jones removed himself from the playing field by being stupid.

Volk beat Aldo and Max. You remember when people were proclaiming Max as the next FW GOAT. At some point he had a over ten fight winstreak until Dustin stopped it.

Yes, it was premature then for max, and it's still a bit premature now for Volk, but there are a lot of other factors going in volks favor (him having zero losses at FW and having wins over two of the other all time greats in Aldo and Max)

We'll see how their resume's compare when volk is retired.

 

[Young Calf Kick]

He's not wrong.

It's only in MMA where appearantly, a fighter can be considered the GOAT of a particular division while having lost all 4 of his bouts against opponents who could also lay claim to that title.

Don't get me wrong, I like Aldo, and he's arguably still the #2 all time FW for me, but MMA fans have such a massive blind spot for him it's just funny.

They'll defend him by saying "he was out of his prime when he started losing these fights!!!1" while comfortably forgetting he just turned 29 when Conor knocked him out, and 30/31 when he lost against Max.

In the end these GOAT debates are all just a popularity contest and usually it just boils down to whichever fighter is liked better. In the Aldo case it's blatant favoritism, mixed with a little nostalgia, topped off with people refusing to accept the FW competition got better from about 2013 onwards. Aldo is an animal but regardless of achievements, prime vs prime I feel like Volkanovski is just the better fighter of the two.

 

[Private Whatley]

Volk beat Aldo and beat Max three times. Aldo was out of his prime but the three Max wins loom pretty large; I personally feel that the first two fights were close, but that the Volk who showed up in that third fight was as good as any featherweight we’ve ever seen. Let’s not forget Volk was widely considered the best p4p fighter in the sport before agreeing to an ill-advised short notice rematch. Of all the current champs, he easily has the strongest claim to divisional GOAT status. I know Max is more charismatic, and Aldo’s reign occurred during a happier time for most of us, but Volk has the strongest argument.