Alexander Volkanovski has a lot of respect for Islam Makhachev.
The conversation around who is the greatest of all time is ever-present in most sports, but certainly at the forefront in MMA. Fans constantly debate not just who is the pound-for-pound GOAT, but who is the greatest in each weight class. Over the past few years, Volkanovski cemented himself as a contender in both conversations, but when asked who is on his Top Five UFC GOAT list, the UFC featherweight champion included that man who beat him twice in possibly his most storied rivalry.
“I’m going to be completely honest: Demetrious Johnson,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “I don’t know how many title fights he won. The level of competition at flyweight, I don’t think people understand. Because it’s not big names, they act like it’s not competitive. It is so competitive. The best fighters in the world are the lighter weights, because the bigger athletes get ciphered through with other sports. … Us small fellas, flyweights especially, they don’t have anything. You’re either a jockey or a fighter. That’s it. So you get a lot of high-level small athletes.
“Georges St-Pierre,” Volkanovski continued. “Who else we got?
“You know what, I think Islam [Makhachev] has done enough to put himself in that conversation. I think I could put him there.
“This might be biased, I’m going to throw Israel Adesanya there. You’ve got to remember who he beat. Like, beating Robert Whittaker in his prime, twice. Some of the level of the guys that are still doing pretty good now. Obviously, he’s coming off a couple of losses, but how many title fights did he win? …
“You’ve got Anderson Silva, obviously, whose done incredible things as well. And again, you’ve got to look at the timing as well. People might say it’s a bias. Everyone knows I’m biased anyway, but I’m going to throw Izzy there. But I’ll probably still put Anderson Silva up there as well.”
Not only did Volkanovski show love to Makhachev, he also gave Makhachev’s mentor and coach, Khabib Nurmagomedov, love.
“As honorable mentions, you’ve got Khabib over there as well,” Volkanovski said. “Khabib could have easily done it. You could just do it because of the fact that he was undefeated, but I don’t care about undefeated. I care about who you fought. But the way he won was so dominant. That’s why, even though he doesn’t have as good a résumé as some of the the other — like even Charles [Oliveira] has got as many wins as him, but he’s got other losses. But in saying that as well, Khabib was clearly dominant through those fights, and didn’t take much damage, and looked much better than his opponents.
“So that’s why, even though I believe in résumé, heavily, he’s still right up there because of how he did it. I just think résumé-wise, Islam’s got him.”
Volkanovski has a lot of history with Makhachev, challenging him twice for the lightweight title in 2023, losing by decision in their first encounter at UFC 284, and then getting knocked out in the first round when he stepped in on short notice for UFC 298. And while some might think those losses would incline Volkanovski to dismiss Makhachev, it’s quite the opposite, with “The Great” even calling their first fight the favorite of his career.
“You’d think my favorite fight would be a win, but it’s not,” Volkanovski said. “It’s Islam number one in Perth.
“I’ve always had to fight overseas, and I had to fight Max Holloway a lot of times, fan favorites, and it wasn’t really until that point, maybe after the third fight with Max, where people obviously accepted the Max situation. But obviously, he had all the love in that fight, and it wasn’t until after that fight that I started getting the love. And my next fight after that was Islam. …
“It was my first fight back in Australia after being champion, so you can imagine. I haven’t been able to defend my belt in Australia or anything. … We finally got to do an event in Australia, so everyone was already hyped, and not only that, you’ve got pound-for-pound [No. 1] vs. pound-for-pound No. 2. They had their Australian champion get the opportunity to go champ-champ. So, you can imagine the hype. …
“It was incredible, it really was. And then, we’re able to just go out there and give the fans what they wanted. The fact that it was such a well-rounded fight. It was pound-for-pound No. 1 vs. No. 2 going at it, and we gave them that. We showed them all the skillset.”
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