Volkanowski is the most skilled champion we have

[13Seconds]

Usmans activity putting Volk to shame.

 

[Lasse Stefanz]

Neither of those guys have beaten a fighter of Holloway's quality (yet).

That's just MMA mathematics. What exactly about Volkanovski makes him more skilled than other current champions who are dominating their divisions?

 

[Iron Nick]

Give me a break with this type of bullshit. Volk was saved by the bell, and didn’t have one dominant round in the fight. You’d have to be dangling off Volk’s nutsack to think that was a victory for him.

Many people gave that fight to Volkanovski upon rewatching it.

Volk has had one title defense that was controversial, while Usman has cleaned out his division. Not comparable in terms of what they’ve done as champions.

By your logic, Matt Serra is better than Volk, and damn near every other fighter in history.

That's... not my logic at all.
I just think that Volkanovski is - on a skill level - slightly above Usman.
Not as good of a wrestler, but a significantly better striker.

 

[fortheo]

I have volk up there as well. I'm a bit worried to see how he'll do after having a bad case of covid and without the ability to cross train at Tiger muy thai and CKB, but I think he'll still get the job done.

 

[Iron Nick]

That's just MMA mathematics. What exactly about Volkanovski makes him more skilled than other current champions who are dominating their divisions?

Two victories in a row against the second best featherweight of all time.
He's very well-rounded, very smart and one of the best stand up fighters in the sport (though i wouldn't call him a pure striker at all).
Let's look at the numbers for how he compares to the other champions when it comes to "hit and don't get hit" (amount of landed vs absorbed significant strikes):

Figueiredo: 3.38 L - 3.35 A
Volkanovski: 6.02 L - 3.31 A
Sterling: 4.84 L - 2.20 A
(Yan: 5.99 L - 3.55 A)
Usman: 4.63 L - 2.40 A
Adesanya: 3.95 L - 2.63 A
Blachowicz: 3.59 L - 2.79 A
Ngannou: 2.54 L - 2.04 A

Figueiredo on average lands 100.9% of what his opponents land on him.
Ngannou on average lands 124.5% of what his opponents land on him.
Blachowicz on average lands 128.7% of what his opponents land on him.
Adesanya on average lands 150.2% of what his opponents land on him.
Yan on average lands 168.7% of what his opponents land on him.
Volkanovski on average lands 181.9% of what his opponents land on him.
Usman on average lands 192.9% of what his opponents land on him.
Sterling on average lands 219.9% of what his opponents land on him.

Now in this metric, only Sterling and Usman are in front of him, however, Sterling - though officially the champion - got his ass kicked in his last fight.
Usman on the other hand, is currently the most dominant champion, but i don't consider an aging Tyron Woodley, nor Colby or Burns, let alone Masvidal to be on the same level as a prime Max Holloway.
Since this thread is about skill, i'd also say that though Volkanovski is very athletic, he doesn't rely as much on physicality or size as much as Kamaru Usman and he's significantly more sound defensively too when it comes to striking.

Hope this helps explaining my thought process.

 

[The Chosen]

Lost a lot of fans when he downright refused to fight Holloway after the 2nd fight, which most considered a clear win for Holloway. On the same boat, think he has impressive skills but Holloway exposed him in the 2nd fight and hes been avoiding it since. Can't call yourself an undisputed champ like that.

Worst take in this thread

 

[El Fernas]

His biggest wins are against Holloway, boring point fighting style, lots thought he lost the 2nd fight.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

That's what happens when you become a boring point-fighter who pulls out of title defenses

Nah this guy is right, Volk is actually a can, I’ve changed my mind.

 

[PeleProtege]

Yan v Volk for the dustball, noone likes you belt...

 

[neandertal]

Probably the one I least want to see though.

 

[Dan Torrance]

It's amazing how little he gets talked about .. Guys like Francis, Usman, Jan and Petr are very skilled fighters in their own right but if we're talking about complexity Alex has the largest array of skills and techniques in his game.

Stance switching, shifting, striking defense, boxing, calf kicks, body kicks, different entries, different takedowns, combinations, clinch, grappling, everything, he's so complete.

Not a particularly interesting personality but I really hope he gets the recognition he deserves one day. Dude is an MMA machine.

He's one of the most skilled guys in the sport ever at this point.

The thing is though.

His Toast Masters game is weak.

 

[Fesaine]

He need to be way more active. He's very skilled and talented but he only fight once a year.

 

[Rum]

He's better than Yan everywhere, but I still would rather watch a Yan fight.

 

[KOPPE]

Volkaniwski is the most boring point fighter champion we have

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Worst take in this thread

Absolutely, not wanting a trilogy with a guy you’re up 2-0 on is normal

 

[Dan Torrance]

You just have to negate his tempo once you figure that out it will look easy.

 

[GOAT.]

TS delusional lol

 

[Chael_Sonnen]

That's what happens when you become a boring point-fighter who pulls out of title defenses

Because of Covid you dummy?

 

[R3DV1P3Rx28]

Max beat him both times if not for utterly corrupt judging.

 

[XDeathClutchX]

Volk is good at throwing 50 leg kicks a fight, many of them with not much on them.

Take away the leg kick points and Max beats him both times and arguably Max won the second one regardless.

I feel like this post was just to troll.