Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway revealed his pick for the GOAT, the greatest of all time, in the 145 lbs weight class.
Hollloway returns to the Octagon this Saturday against UFC superstar Conor McGregor in the headliner of UFC 329 in what is his welterweight debut.
While he is no longer a featherweight, Holloway was once a dominant champion in the weight class, so his opinion on the GOAT at 145 lbs carries weight.
Max Holloway Reveals Choice for Featherweight GOAT
Speaking to the media ahead of UFC 329, Holloway revealed his choice for the featherweight GOAT.
According to Holloway, it’s Jose Aldo, followed by Alexander Volkanovski, then Ilia Topuria. He would have Conor McGregor as a distant fourth, and he didn’t name himself on the list as he is humble.
“I think (Jose) Aldo. Aldo is my favorite, but I can see the case with (Alexander Volkanovski), for sure. I also see through the media’s eyes why, and I’m not going to write myself in there. If it’s four, it would have to be: Aldo, Volk, maybe you give a little bit more to Ilia (Topuria) because of what he did and the guys he fought. Conor (McGregor) just won it one time then boom, disappeared, became a double champ,” Holloway said (via MMAjunkie.com).
Jose Aldo the Featherweight GOAT
Aldo had more consecutive title defenses at featherweight than anyone else in UFC history, having defended his belt seven times in a row, plus two more times in the WEC before he joined the UFC, for a total of nine times. Even though the end of his career saw him lose a lot of fights, what he did at the beginning of it was too much for Holloway to ignore.
Volkanovski had five consecutive title defenses, so he’s right up there, and he has a win over Aldo, plus three wins over Holloway. But in Holloway’s opinion, Aldo’s body of work outdoes Volkanovski’s.
As for Topuria, he had some huge wins, including knockouts over Volkanovski and Holloway, but he didn’t spend much time as a featherweight champ before moving up to lightweight.
Finally, as for McGregor, he never once defended the featherweight title after winning it from Aldo in 2015. So while McGregor does have wins over Aldo and Holloway, in Holloway’s opinion, the lack of title defenses that the Irishman didn’t have puts him near the bottom of the featherweight GOAT list despite being, by far, the most popular fighter in UFC history.
Holloway also believes that McGregor needs to let the fans and media decide who the 145 lbs GOAT is, not himself.
“When people talk about this kind of stuff or stats or history, you want the fans and (media) to talk about it, not us. He needs to start picking a bone with you guys, not me. It’s not my fault,” McGregor said.
Holloway, of course, did not mention himself, but he did have three consecutive title defenses, and he is certainly up there in terms of the featherweight GOAT, too.
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