Max Holloway isn’t buying into the Greatest of All Time narrative surrounding UFC 276.
This Saturday, Holloway faces Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight title in a trilogy bout that has some fans arguing that the winner will be the greatest featherweight ever. It’s a narrative that has gained steam in recent years with MMA luminaries like Joe Rogan and Jon Anik repeatedly calling Holloway “the consensus greatest featherweight of all time,” and Volkanovski himself has said he’ll claim the title with a third win over Holloway this weekend, but as Holloway points out, this all ignores the accomplishments of former champion Jose Aldo.
“Not at all. Not at all. A lot of fans, a lot of people are saying it. Did we forget the man Jose Aldo?” Holloway said at the UFC 276 media day. “The man got eight title fights. Eight title wins, actually. I have five title wins, and until someone can beat his records as a champion with the eight title wins, then they can consider themselves the GOAT in featherweight. I got five. To be here, against Alex to get my sixth title win. That’s just the cherry on top.”
As Holloway notes, Aldo’s records atop the featherweight division are still comfortably ahead of the other would-be GOATs. Aldo won the WEC featherweight title in 2009 and defended that title twice before Zuffa finally merged the two organizations and promoted Aldo to their inaugural featherweight champion. From there he defended his title seven times, which still stands a fifth all time for UFC title defenses (if you included his WEC defenses, he would be tied for third with Georges St-Pierre). Holloway and Volkanovski only have three successful title defenses each, a far cry from Aldo’s lofty numbers. Both men do have wins over Aldo, but in terms of raw numbers, they fall short of the title some believe they are fighting for this weekend.
But just because they aren’t fighting for the title of featherweight GOAT, does not mean his fight against Volkanovski this weekend is any less important. Holloway and Volkanovski sit at No. 3 and 6 respectively in the MMA Fighting Global Pound-For-Pound Rankings, and as Holloway notes, fights like that don’t come around very often.
“Legacy. This is a legacy fight, 100 percent,” Holloway said. “You guys all know what pound-for-pound ranking he is, you guys know what pound-for-pound ranking I am. We’re on the upper end of the pound-for-pound ranks, and these don’t happen in the past decade. It did only once come to mind and that’s DC [Daniel Cormier] and [Jon] Jones, so this is a legacy fight. This is huge in every way. People are calling us the main event of this card and thats saying a lot. It’s saying a lot about this fight.”
UFC 276 takes place this Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
TOP STORIES
USADA. Israel Adesanya takes shots at Jon Jones, PED past in USADA 50-test ceremony.
Correct. Sean Strickland knows UFC 276 is ‘purely just a ploy by the UFC’ to get Alex Pereira a title shot.
Okay. Eugene Bareman: Jared Cannonier’s ability ‘to walk through a bit of fire’ puts him above Israel Adesanya’s recent challengers.
Retirement. Ronda Rousey opens up on end of MMA career and decision to retire: ‘I kept doing it for everybody else’.
Salt. Sean O’Malley: I could submit Khabib Nurmagomedov and fans would still complain.
Reason. Pedro Munhoz says it’s ‘ridiculous’ that Sean O’Malley still calls himself undefeated: ‘You lost, buddy’.
WWE. Valerie Loureda signs with WWE, done with MMA.
VIDEO STEW
The MMA Hour.
Embedded 3.
Khabib Nurmagomedov Hall of Fame trailer.
Stylebender Fight Week 2.
Khabib and DC back at it.
Arnold Allen breaks down UFC 276.
LISTEN UP
No Bets Barred. Going all out for UFC 276 with bets on every single fight.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
This continues.
Tommy Fury is avoiding going to the embassy to get his visa. It’s been 36 hours with no action from his side, and per Tommy Fumbles style he missed the press conference today in NYC. pic.twitter.com/kyVfepGXFA
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) June 29, 2022
I play chess, u play checkers. Ur opponent is repped by me & I know a lot more about ur biz than u would like. Ur not on my level in boxing or the boxing biz. Out of respect for my client, I’ll let u keep chirping away like a canary. You & Fury r both big mouths, w/ small sacks. https://t.co/9GGbRbHjec
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) June 29, 2022
Do it.
I’m ready at the end of the year https://t.co/VDbExdJ0sL
— Mateusz Gamrot (@gamer_mma) June 29, 2022
Paddy Pimblett putting Dillon Danis in a box. Again.
Yer man my first pro loss when I was 18 bro didnt tap went to sleep like a warrior but 1 quick question, how can u say ur one of ur best grapplers in the world when someone whos not even a pro fighter choked u unconscious when u was screaming“do u know who I am” @dillondanis https://t.co/0plapBIP3T pic.twitter.com/ze5OCXz4zb
— Paddy The Baddy (@theufcbaddy) June 29, 2022
Management.
Wild that Max and Izzy got to 50 around the same time.
Congratulations to @BlessedMMA on his 50th clean test & perfect test history under the USADA program pic.twitter.com/fpddGZ7KVo
— UFC (@ufc) June 29, 2022
Izzy and Elden Ring.
Biggest game in the world rn and I had the chance to work with them on this incredible trailer! A whole new meaning to being Player1 @eldenring #EldenRing #ad @BandaiNamcoUS pic.twitter.com/5NFA4OaNnC
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) June 30, 2022
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
N/A.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As I will always mention with regard to Aldo, not only does he have 9 title defenses, he also should be considered the youngest champion in history. Jon Jones won the light heavyweight title at 23 years and 243 days. Aldo won his featherweight belt at 23 years 70 days, but because at the time Zuffa was still operating two different companies, Aldo didn’t become the UFC champion until he was 24 years old.
Thanks for reading! See y’all tomorrow.
EXIT POLL
If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let him know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.
