Take the Volk fights away and Max's record at FW over the last 9 years would be 16-0.

[Gracious Warrior]

I'm actually a huge Aldo fan, but anyone who doesn't think volk is the FW Goat at this point is either trolling or ignorant of history. I saw Aldo in his prime and trust me he wasn't this good.

 

[Volumes]

Aldo was a Beast, but the level of competition back then was not the same

 

[JayPettryMMA]

Yeah, and if my aunt had wheels, she'd be a wagon. What's the point? He lost those fights to Volk.

 

[Oliver Clothesoff]

Volk looked like a different fighter last night. I wasn't a huge fan before but I am now. That was an amazing performance. I hope he might finally get the respect he deserves.

 

[Adebisi]

It’s a shame that we never got to see Aldo get a rematch against Conor. It would have been huge for his legacy.

 

[Gracious Warrior]

Yeah, and if my aunt had wheels, she'd be a wagon. What's the point? He lost those fights to Volk.

The point I'm trying to make is how great volk is. No one else can beat Max at 145, but volk beat him 3 times and shut him out in two of those wins. He's not just the best 145er today, he's the best 45er ever.

 

[HHJ]

I think that Volk is a better fighter than Aldo. But their reigns and eras were different. Aldo had his era and Volk had his. Thats all. You can pick which one you think is better but thats all it is,preference.

 

[Arkham's Notorious Geyser]

It's crazy that to this day even when Volk and Max themselves say Aldo is still the GOAT at Featherweight, people STILL try and give others that spot.

Give Volk time to get the Title defenses and he'll happily claim that spot, but even he knows he's got some work to do

 

[ExitLUPin]

Volk looked like a different fighter last night. I wasn't a huge fan before but I am now. That was an amazing performance. I hope he might finally get the respect he deserves.

He looked the same as he did against Ortega and especially KZ. Bald Volk is real.

 

[Simple Southerner]

 

[AmbassadorFright]

It's crazy that to this day even when Volk and Max themselves say Aldo is still the GOAT at Featherweight, people STILL try and give others that spot.

Give Volk time to get the Title defenses and he'll happily claim that spot, but even he knows he's got some work to do

He doesn't have to do much to close the gap tbh. He doesn't need to match the number of defenses because he's beaten way better competition and technically Aldo himself (prime or not).

 

[JayPettryMMA]

The point I'm trying to make is how great volk is. No one else can beat Max at 145, but volk beat him 3 times and shut him out in two of those wins. He's not just the best 145er today, he's the best 45er ever.

Volk's got some great H2H wins, no doubt. But his legacy is a lot less than Aldo. Aldo fought at the championship level at the top of his game for five years straight from 09 to 14, and then got his belt back once more. Volk's got a terrific seven-fight stretch, but Aldo's been fighting non-stop top 10 guys since the Cub fight. That's insane.

 

[Arkham's Notorious Geyser]

He doesn't have to do much to close the gap tbh. He doesn't need to match the number of defenses because he's beaten way better competition and technically Aldo himself (prime or not).

I agree that he doesn't have much to do, and never really understood the thought of someone not being better despite beating their opponent, but I like that Volk isn't really taking that spot yet, and is staying hungry and active to give us more fights.

If he tells himself he's reached the mountain top and starts touting his horn that he's better than Aldo, I'm sure he knows that wouldn't be good for his mental, so he's still on the chase in his mind, and still looking to accomplish more, like the Double Champ status, and I can respect that.

Looking at his post fight scrum, and you'll see he's a guy that doesn't rest on his laurels and doesn't like to talk about his Achievements, only what's next and getting respect from ungrateful fans.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

It's crazy that to this day even when Volk and Max themselves say Aldo is still the GOAT at Featherweight, people STILL try and give others that spot.

Give Volk time to get the Title defenses and he'll happily claim that spot, but even he knows he's got some work to do

Exactly.

The next generation of elite fighter will always eventually be better than the past generation, that's the nature of the game. But just "being better" doesn't mean they've equaled the accomplishments, though Volk is clearly on his way.

He's cleaned out the old guard (Aldo/Mendes/Zombie), he's almost done with his own generation (Max/Ortega, probably needs to take out Yair or Emmett as well), so that leaves the new generation of contenders (Allen/Evloev/Topuria).

If he beats Yair or Emmett and then takes out a couple of the next-gen guys he'll have a legit claim to the throne as the divisional GOAT.

 

[Shay Brennan]

He is that good. It's unbelivable how Volk dominated someone that good.

 

[PunchyMcSplodo]

I'm actually a huge Aldo fan, but anyone who doesn't think volk is the FW Goat at this point is either trolling or ignorant of history. I saw Aldo in his prime and trust me he wasn't this good.

Depends on your GOAT criteria, which varies person to person--which criteria a person gives more weight to is ultimately arbitrary.

If GOAT means "Who has the best combat ability and would be favored to beat the other GOAT candidates and the fighters on their resumes?"

Then the FW GOAT is Volk.

If GOAT means "Who has the best accomplishments for their era, regardless of whether the fighters in one period were weaker than ones in the others?"

Then the FW GOAT is Aldo.

 

[Goutfather]

aldo’s competition was comparable to the competition today. the ufc didn’t really protect its fw prospects from each other like ufc does now, because outside of urijah faber, the casual audience was not paying attention to any of them. so generally whoever fought for the belt was the most deserving challenger, because they’d beaten other highly respected fighters who would otherwise be title challengers. these days, challengers show up with undefeated records, with perhaps a few old lions on their resume, but never having faced other highly touted prospects until they are in the top 5. this the ufcs model for building stars. not knocking it. but you can’t diminish aldo’s record just because he hasn’t faced the brian ortegas of the world.

fwiw, aldo made his competition look like amateurs. and he’s still beating young lions today. would prime aldo beat prime alex? that’s a closer question, but not one that can be answered just by comparing their records.

 

[BFoe]

I'm actually a huge Aldo fan, but anyone who doesn't think volk is the FW Goat at this point is either trolling or ignorant of history. I saw Aldo in his prime and trust me he wasn't this good.

Ignorant of history? History tells me that in Aldo’s first decade, he was 25-0 at FW. Volk hasn’t done that yet. Max never achieved that.
Aldo has 9 FW title defenses.
Volk hasn’t achieved that yet. Max never achieved that.

 

[Gambit MMA]

some of volks key wins are against guys aldo beat nearly 10 years ago. aldo beat zombie before KZ went and did his 4 years in the military, thats how long ago that was. volk fought KZ in a title defense a few months ago lol.

as for max, 1 of his few defenses he had was against an old frankie edgar who sat out for a year to get 1 last title shot. aldo schooled frankie twice, the first fight being way back in 2013.

volk beat chad in late 2018 after chad had been out for 2 years due to USADA. aldo vs mendes II was in 2014.

fighters evolve and the new gen is likely to have some guys better than the older gen, but i wish we'd quit acting like EVERYONE in the top 5-10 is far away and above better than the top 10 guys 5 years ago, 8 years ago etc.

who are we gonna say aldo at his best can't beat that max and volkanovski have beat? ortega? kattar? yair? i think aldo beats all 3 of them.

 

[Greg House]

Aldo's record in the 9 years between 2006 and 2014 is 18-0 with 9 title defenses

And you don't have to take losses away to make him look better than he was