All FW champions ranked

[Shay Brennan]

1. Jose Aldo - 11 title fight wins, 9 defenses, 2x FW champion
2. Alexander Volkanovski - 6 title fight win, 5 defenses - has dominantly beat Aldo, Holloway and Yair
3. Max Holloway - 5 title fight wins, 3 defenses, 2x FW champion(interim included), either the best or second best FW resume
4. Urijah Faber - 6 title fight wins, 5 defenses, 5 title fight finishes including a submission of Cruz
5. Mike Brown - 3 title fight win, 2 defenses,
5. Conor McGegor - 2 title fight wins(1 interim) - perhaps the best title winning performance at FW ever, also finished prime Mendes although on short notice.
6. Cole Escovedo - 2 title fight wins. 1 defense
6. Ilia Topuria - 1 title fight win - the second best title winning performance at FW
7. Yair Rodriguez 1 interim title fight win

I'm unsure of who should be ranked third. Faber has more defenses and title fight wins but Max's resume is much better than Faber's.
Changes can be made to the list if you have reasonable suggestions.

 

[Dionysian]

Weird how you concede Max is definitely either the best or second best resume yet have him third. I think GOAT is sometimes far too often reduced to "title defense counting contest"

In terms of one guy on one night being the best FW ever... I don't know if any FW ever beats the Volk that fought Max the 3rd time.

 

[Leinster Rugby]

nice list, honestly don't know where I'd go after Aldo being number 1, depends on the criteria I suppose.

Two things are absolutely irrefutable here though....

1) Aldo is the FW goat bar none

2) McGregor is a skid mark on the underpants of mma

 

[loisestrad]

Weird how you concede Max is definitely either the best or second best resume yet have him third.

0-3 vs Volk. It's not weird at all. To rank Max above Volk would need Max' resume other than those fights to be indefinitely better.

 

[Dionysian]

0-3 vs Volk. It's not weird at all. To rank Max above Volk would need Max' resume other than those fights to be indefinitely better.

I get it. I rank Volk higher personally. It is just weird to openly state that you base greatness solely on title defense counts vs their overall resume

It really should include everything. Title defenses sure but also dominance + names on the resume + just how good were they at their all time height of their prime etc

I sometime think this site would put a dude with 5 controversial split decision title defense wins higher than a guy with 4 amazing finishes as title defences, 2 of them against the dude with the 5 defenses.

 

[Shay Brennan]

In terms of one guy on one night being the best FW ever... I don't know if any FW ever beats the Volk that fought Max the 3rd time.

Agreed.
I don't think anybody could beat prime Volk, well perhaps prime Aldo maybe.
If he would lose to some FW fighter it would have to be by KO/TKO as he's damn near unbeatable by decision and submission.

 

[Dionysian]

Agreed.
I don't think anybody could beat prime Volk, well perhaps prime Aldo maybe.
If he would lose to some FW fighter it would have to be by KO/TKO as he's damn near unbeatable by decision and submission.

That Volk cruises to a dominant UD against any Aldo or this Topuria... IMHO

 

[Davidjacksonjones]

Aldo bless

 

[Davidjacksonjones]

Should Conor's title fight win at LW be considered on this FW list though?

 

[Jackonfire]

Weird how you concede Max is definitely either the best or second best resume yet have him third. I think GOAT is sometimes far too often reduced to "title defense counting contest"

In terms of one guy on one night being the best FW ever... I don't know if any FW ever beats the Volk that fought Max the 3rd time.

Both Holloway and Volk claim Aldo is the GOAT and both cite title defenses as one of the reasons. Volk recently talked about how hard it is to hold onto the belt. GSP said something similar. So much can go wrong on any given night. Winning the belt is easy, its just one fight. But holding onto the belt is the hard part.

 

[Dionysian]

Both Holloway and Volk claim Aldo is the GOAT and both cite title defenses as one of the reasons. Volk recently talked about how hard it is to hold onto the belt. GSP said something similar. So much can go wrong on any given night. Winning the belt is easy, its just one fight. But holding onto the belt is the hard part.

Yeah having it as a criteria is fine. It is just having it as the ONLY criteria is what I find weird and reductive.