Hypothetical: Volk doesn't fight Islam and stays at FW

[Xoleth]

Assuming he doesn't go at LW and lose twice to Islam.
Instead, he defends two more times his FW belt.
That's 7 title defenses instead of 5.
And then retires and doesn't get KOd by Topuria.

He would be 28-1 in MMA, 15-0 in UFC.

Would you consider him FW Goat?

 

[Alpha_T83]

Volk is the FW GOAT.

Topuria doesn't become the GOAT by winning 1 championship fight and then immediately leaving the division. Sorry, but anyone who thinks Topuria is the FW GOAT is brain dead.

 

[WaylonMercy5150]

Volks resume would be better and statistically he would be equal to Aldo. Aldo would still have some swing for pioneering.

 

[mjoln]

I think that mindset is crucial part. Volk is dude who push his limits and if we dont let him do that he might change his focus to somewhere else.

I rather see fighter who test his power than fighter who keep it safe for good stats.

Tldr; if we change fighter, he might get new weakness because of it

 

[Contempt]

He's already the FW GOAT. Hard to dispute that now after he won the belt back.

 

[Dr Fong]

This weird piece of alternate timeline fan fiction, where the hero for some reason retires before having to face the guy who kicked his ass, is part of a larger trend in MMA simping.

The schoolyard arguments used to be 'my favorite fighter could beat your favorite fighter'.

Now it's 'I am terrified of your favorite fighter beating my favorite fighter, so I hope they never fight'

 

[Egészségére!]

I rather see fighter who test his power than fighter who keep it safe for good stats

This

If Islam comes up short Sat imo it adds to his legacy vs Khabib who never tried

 

[ThaiSexPills]

Volk is the FW GOAT.

Topuria doesn't become the GOAT by winning 1 championship fight and then immediately leaving the division. Sorry, but anyone who thinks Topuria is the FW GOAT is brain dead.

Same people who called Weidman the GOAT after Silva lol. Topuria is very good but greatness is being good for a long time and beating many challanges.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Volks resume would be better and statistically he would be equal to Aldo. Aldo would still have some swing for pioneering.

From a purely numerical perspective, I agree there's a strong argument if we count Aldo's WEC record in the UFC FW GOAT discussion.

But IMO it's difficult to call these early champs as "GOAT" fighters. The UFC featherweight division was unquestionably stacked with tougher competition when Volk made his 5x title defense run, compared to Aldo's run in the WEC/UFC.

Aldo had that run of title defenses in Gamburyan, Hominick, and Florian which is just quite frankly embarrassing. None of those fighters deserved to be fighting for an MMA world title in a legitimately deep division. Not even close. But the division was just so thin back then.

 

[WaylonMercy5150]

From a purely numerical perspective, I agree there's a strong argument if we count Aldo's WEC record in the UFC FW GOAT discussion.

But IMO it's difficult to call these early champs as "GOAT" fighters. The UFC featherweight division was unquestionably stacked with tougher competition when Volk made his 5x title defense run, compared to Aldo's run in the WEC/UFC.

Aldo had that run of title defenses in Gamburyan, Hominick, and Florian which is just quite frankly embarrassing. None of those fighters deserved to be fighting for an MMA world title in a legitimately deep division. Not even close. But the division was just so thin back then.

Florian was kind of a mid-level name at the time and certainly one of the bigger names in the division at that time even though he had just dropped down. I think for Aldo, you're absolutely right his quality of opposition was much lower than Volks. But that's not really his fault.

 

[Hymen Crusher]

Same people who called Weidman the GOAT after Silva lol. Topuria is very good but greatness is being good for a long time and beating many challanges.

Don't tell khamzat fans this.

 

[Ares Black]

Volk is the FW GOAT.

Topuria doesn't become the GOAT by winning 1 championship fight and then immediately leaving the division. Sorry, but anyone who thinks Topuria is the FW GOAT is brain dead.

^^^^^^^ This guy gets it

 

[BFoe]

Nope. Jose Aldo had 9 FW title defenses. Volk isn’t the FW GOAT, and if Volk had defended two more times he still wouldn’t have been the FW GOAT.

 

[Rampage_Jackson]

Volk is great Max is great Ilia and Conor barely did shit at 145.

Its Aldo. Aldo is the 145 lb and top 5 p4p GOAT.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Florian was kind of a mid-level name at the time and certainly one of the bigger names in the division at that time even though he had just dropped down. I think for Aldo, you're absolutely right his quality of opposition was much lower than Volks. But that's not really his fault.

No it's definitely not his fault. But I don't think we should be counting WEC fights in this discussion.

Counting Aldo's interim championship, Aldo has 8 title fight UFC wins at FW compared to Volk's 7. One more title fight win and Volk equals Aldo numerically, but edges him out because of somewhat higher level of competition. That's how I see it. IMO Volk is already the FW GOAT, but if he defends his belt one more time, I don't see how it could be argued at all.

 

[BFoe]

No it's definitely not his fault. But I don't think we should be counting WEC fights in this discussion.

Counting Aldo's interim championship, Aldo has 8 title fight UFC wins at FW compared to Volk's 7. One more title fight win and Volk equals Aldo numerically, but edges him out because of somewhat higher level of competition. That's how I see it. IMO Volk is already the FW GOAT, but if he defends his belt one more time, I don't see how it could be argued at all.

Of course we should count the WEC defenses, that belt *is* the UFC FW belt. Aldo beat Cub Swanson in a title eliminator to get that TS, beat Mike Brown for the belt who is one of the best FWs ever, defended against Faber in addition to Manny—and we just don’t count it? Aldo was beating legit guys.

Volk has 5 defenses, and as dominant as we consider him to be, consider that he’d have to essentially repeat that feat again in a continuous streak to beat Aldo’s defenses. And even still, Aldo has the greater win streak at 25 consecutive FW wins. Aldo still has more ranked wins at FW too.

 

[Rampage_Jackson]

at the very least Brown & Faber are ELITE wins. Those were the top 3 guys in the world at 145 around the time before the WEC was bought out. young Swanson and Manny are a couple of cuts below that but still good wins

 

[jeskola]

Assuming he doesn't go at LW and lose twice to Islam.
Instead, he defends two more times his FW belt.
That's 7 title defenses instead of 5.
And then retires and doesn't get KOd by Topuria.

He would be 28-1 in MMA, 15-0 in UFC.

Would you consider him FW Goat?

yes

 

[Alpha_T83]

Of course we should count the WEC defenses, that belt *is* the UFC FW belt. Aldo beat Cub Swanson in a title eliminator to get that TS, beat Mike Brown for the belt who is one of the best FWs ever, defended against Faber in addition to Manny—and we just don’t count it? Aldo was beating legit guys.

Volk has 5 defenses, and as dominant as we consider him to be, consider that he’d have to essentially repeat that feat again in a continuous streak to beat Aldo’s defenses. And even still, Aldo has the greater win streak at 25 consecutive FW wins. Aldo still has more ranked wins at FW too.

LOL dude, you are romanticizing the past bigtime. MTB, Swanson, Manny were gatekeepers at best. None of them were championship material.

Faber is also heavily overrated. He was only WEC championship because, again, the WEC was insanely weak. He was 0-4 in UFC title shots for a reason. He's not UFC championship material.

Normally I'm not a fan of comparing eras, but this is different. The WEC is not the UFC, and WEC records don't count as UFC records. Even the 145 pound division was paper thin in the UFC, early on. Volk's quality of wins is so much higher than Aldo's it's not even funny.

 

[Westbrick]

LOL dude, you are romanticizing the past bigtime. MTB, Swanson, Manny were gatekeepers at best. None of them were championship material.

Faber is also heavily overrated. He was only WEC championship because, again, the WEC was insanely weak. He was 0-4 in UFC title shots for a reason. He's not UFC championship material.

Normally I'm not a fan of comparing eras, but this is different. The WEC is not the UFC, and WEC records don't count as UFC records. Even the 145 pound division was paper thin in the UFC, early on. Volk's quality of wins is so much higher than Aldo's it's not even funny.

MTB was the champion before Aldo bro, Swanson beat Oliveira, Poirier, Siver, Stephens, Roop and Pearson right after Aldo beat his ass.

The problem with mfs like you is you can't contextualize shit.

Beating Ortega with 1 win streak and 1 year lay off and 40yo TKZ must be some elite wins, huh?