Is Volk the FW GOAT?

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

Anybody who says "clearly" for either guy, is talking out of their ass.

No, I'm really not lol. It's clearly Volk.

 

[omawho402]

I mean he probably is, but I have a handful of other FW's I hold in higher regard. I just can't get amped to watch him fight.

 

[mkt]

He already was before this fight, most certainly afterwards.

Eh, this fight did nothing for his legacy. Pointless rematch and not that much different than their first fight. I mean Aldo had two decision wins over Frankie Edgar, but they were 3 years apart. I can see a case for Volk as FW GOAT, but he has 4 wins (all be decision) against two fighters (Max and Lopes, with Max being more significant).

 

[GrantB13]

One thing I really value in champions is diversity of opponents. You have guys like Cruz, Aldo, GSP, Silva, and Jones who don't have a string of rematches. Maybe a couple. These days damn near every champion has rematches immediately.

Considering Volkanovski has FIVE fights between two people as champion, it's really hard for me to see those as equal to five different opponents.

 

[RockyLockridge]

In performance? yes.
in Acheivements? debatable.

 

[RockyLockridge]

One thing I really value in champions is diversity of opponents. You have guys like Cruz, Aldo, GSP, Silva, and Jones who don't have a string of rematches. Maybe a couple. These days damn near every champion has rematches immediately.

Considering Volkanovski has FIVE fights between two people as champion, it's really hard for me to see those as equal to five different opponents.

Oh cut it out. one of volks rematches was max, who is an all time great and is also one of aldos rematches whom he lost to twice. Aldo has had MORE rematches than volk. (Medes twice, Edgar twice, Max twice)

Max is the only fighter ever to earn a trilogy down 2-0 (edit, forgot about penn vs edgar 3 as most of us would like to). He's a generational talent and is still a top player at a weight class above to this day.

 

[Simple Southerner]

Not yet but breathing down aldo`neck.

 

[ExitLUPin]

Eh, this fight did nothing for his legacy. Pointless rematch and not that much different than their first fight. I mean Aldo had two decision wins over Frankie Edgar, but they were 3 years apart. I can see a case for Volk, but he has 4 wins (all be decision) against two fighters (Max and Lopes, with Max being more significant).

Yeah, Lopes is still a great scalp, but having Evloev or Murphy on his resume would have made his case much stronger than this pointless rematch.

 

[BowserJr]

Nope.

This rematch was absolutely retarded.

Lopes now has nowhere to go from here. Volk should've fought Evloev or Murphy and would have a better claim then if he won

 

[StewDogg11]

Lol fuck no.

 

[RockyLockridge]

If he beats Evloev and Murphy I'd say he is undoubtedly FW GOAT.

It puts him top 5 all time mma IMO

 

[StewDogg11]

I guess the hometown judges don’t take into account damage anymore since Volk was the only one who got knocked on his ass and had a busted up face. He literally was flash KO’d and had to ask his corner what happened and they told him he slipped lmao. 50-45 was asinine.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Yes.

 

[theincognito]

In performance? yes.
in Acheivements? debatable.

This, but the inverse.

He has the achievements.

It's the performance that people can debate.

Aldo was head and shoulders above the competition during his reign. Absolute dominance.
Volk kind of does just enough to pull slightly ahead most of the time.

 

[RockyLockridge]

This, but the inverse.

He has the achievements.

It's the performance that people can debate.

Aldo was head and shoulders above the competition during his reign. Absolute dominance.
Volk kind of does just enough to pull slightly ahead most of the time.

I dont agree at all, He beat max 5-0 in one fight which is unheard of no one has EVER beaten max that soundly. He also beat aldo soundly. He also beat zombie (hard to watch) Ortega and lopes soundly twice. Aldo felt more adversity against edgar I and Medes II than Volk has seen in FW. (LW exempt, of course)

 

[HolmeZy55]

Eh, this fight did nothing for his legacy. Pointless rematch and not that much different than their first fight. I mean Aldo had two decision wins over Frankie Edgar, but they were 3 years apart. I can see a case for Volk as FW GOAT, but he has 4 wins (all be decision) against two fighters (Max and Lopes, with Max being more significant).

Max alone is better than anybody Aldo ever beat and he beat Aldo himself, Volk's resume is just far more impressive.

It's not even debatable at this point that Volk > Aldo

 

[Fact Checker]

Question for all the Sherbots:

How are you the GOAT of anything and you’re not even “The Man” in your own era???




Enough with the sympathy mental gymnastics.

 

[GrantB13]

Oh cut it out. one of volks rematches was max, who is an all time great and is also one of aldos rematches whom he lost to twice. Aldo has had MORE rematches than volk. (Medes twice, Edgar twice, Max twice)

Max is the only fighter ever to earn a trilogy down 2-0 (edit, forgot about penn vs edgar 3 as most of us would like to). He's a generational talent and is still a top player at a weight class above to this day.

While I did completely forget Edgar I still stand by my assessment. Aldo has more unique wins regardless of rematches for top 10. 12 to 8 on the OP graphic. The real damage rematches do is taking up too much time of a fighters career since most don't fight very often. So I guess it's not the rematches themselves but rather the ratio of rematch to fresh matchups. I wouldn't mind rematches if fighter careers reached the level of older boxers and kickboxers.

But still, I don't tend to evaluate champion greatness by linearity or as an evolution but rather isolated to themselves. In the same way I don't put Weidman over Silva, I don't put Volkanovski over Aldo because he beat Holloway who also beat Aldo. Doing so essentially means you take all of Aldo's collective achievements and credit them to Volkanovski. Each fighter's career need to stand on it's own.

 

[Rubios]

Was absolutely sparked by Ilia but GOAT is apparently the accumulation of achievements rather than simply how good a fighter was on a particular night.

Featherweight Conor and Ilia *feel* like they are much better than Volk but I guess they get disqualified from GOAT conversations because they didn't stick around long enough to build credit as a champion.

So yeah it feels weird but under that criteria, Volk probably is featherweight GOAT.

Dude. 35 yo Volk in his 4th fight in a year going up and down bw weight classes and not even 4 months after a brutal KO got slept by Topuria.
Right.

Has EIGHT title fight wins, one loss at FW.
Topuria has two title fight wins at FW.

Don't act like winning six more is a done deal.

 

[HolmeZy55]

Question for all the Sherbots:

How are you the GOAT of anything and you’re not even “The Man” in your own era???

Enough with the sympathy mental gymnastics.

Because Ilia is a LW now and doesn't have the body of work at FW to be that divisions GOAT, he could however become the LW GOAT.