With many UFC fans labelling Alexander Volkanovski the UFC featherweight GOAT, the Australian himself has had his say on the debate.
Ahead of Jose Aldo’s return to the Octagon this weekend at UFC 301 in his home country of Brazil, one of Aldo’s former opponents, Alexander Volkanovski, who is widely regarded as the greatest featherweight of all time, has in fact dubbed Aldo as the greatest featherweight of all time.
Alexander Volkanovski Believes Jose Aldo is the Featherweight GOAT
Volk believes Jose Aldo is “how a champ should be”
Alexander Volkanovski is now widely regarded in MMA as the greatest featherweight the UFC has ever seen. For most people, the go-to three fighters who come to mind when discussing the best featherweights in the UFC are Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Jose Aldo.
Despite the Australian having four wins from four fights against the other two names who are in the conversation for featherweight GOAT, Volkanovski has not chosen himself as the greatest to ever do it in the division, but has chosen someone else. In a recent interview that Volkanovski did with mainevent, he declared Aldo the featherweight GOAT.
“That’s for other people to decide, but for me, if you’re going to ask me, I’m going to say Aldo because he was the champion for a very long time. Obviously, people are going to look at the competition and all that, but to be champion for that long, things go wrong. You fight injured, there are so many things that can go wrong, and to be champion that long, it’s saying something. He was very dominant as a champion as well, so full respect to Aldo.”
Jose Aldo Returns to the Octagon at UFC 301
Aldo will face rising bantamweight contender Jonathan Martinez
Tomorrow looks set to be Jose Aldo’s last fight in MMA as it is the last fight on his UFC contract, and there would be no better way for him to go out than getting a win in front of his people one last time. Volkanovski was very complimentary of the Brazilian when talking about his career and legacy.
“Obviously, his technique, his skill is always going to be something that you’re going to appreciate. But him being such a respectful champion, that’s how I like to be. I think he’s morally correct, I think he’s just respectful. He’s how a champion should be, and that was something that I really did appreciate, and it made me want to be a great champion too. I think I was always going to be respectful, that’s just who I am, but it’s so good to see someone like him being the champion because it’s something that you can respect and people do really appreciate.”
Aldo faces off tomorrow night against dangerous and rising bantamweight contender Jonathan Martinez, who is currently on a six-fight win streak. He will be looking to turn it into seven and get the biggest win of his career in Brazil over a legend of the sport.
Aldo recently revealed that Martinez wasn’t actually the opponent he was originally scheduled to fight. According to the Brazilian, he was in fact set to fight arguably the greatest bantamweight of all time, Dominick Cruz, in what would have been a dream fight.