When it comes to the conversation about deciding who is the best UFC featherweight of all time, two names standout above all others: Alexander Volkanovski and José Aldo. Cementing their places amongst the best to ever do it, both champions defeated a bevy of top-level competition, ranging from young, promising contenders, to established divisional royalty.
Before he signed with the biggest promotion on the planet, Aldo made a name for himself in the WEC as their unstoppable 145-lb king, finishing Mike Brown to win the title, then later defending it twice against Urijah Faber and Manny Gamburyan. He would later be brought into the UFC, where he was immediately made their featherweight champion, notching another seven defenses over the next four years.
Joining the UFC in 2016, Volkanovski slowly began to rise up the 145-lb rankings, defeating Jeremy Kennedy, Darren Elkins, Chad Mendes, and future hall-of-famer José Aldo. Riding a mind-boggling 17 fight win streak, the Aussie challenged for the featherweight title against Hawaiian striking specialist Max Holloway, eventually beating “Blessed” by unanimous decision to claim the throne.
Embarking on a dominant run as champion, Volkanovski defended his belt a total of five times, including two more fights against Holloway. This begs the question, just who is the greatest UFC Featherweight Champion ever?
Greatest Featherweights: José Aldo
MMA record: 32-9
UFC record: 14-8
Number of UFC/WEC title defenses: 9
Beginning his mixed martial arts career in 2004, José Aldo started to show glimpses of the impeccable kickboxer he would later become, winning his first seven fights in a row, with six of those bouts ending via KO/TKO. This success was halted, however, after “Junior” wound up being submitted in the second round by Luciano Azevedo in his sixth professional contest of 2005 and at lightweight.
The featherweight bruiser then hopped around various other promotions until finding something of a permanent banner to compete under, the World Extreme Cagefighting, or the WEC. In the America-based company, the Brazilian quickly became possibly the best fighter on the roster in just a year, recording five devastating knockout stoppages, even taking out Cub Swanson in just eight seconds in a title eliminator bout.
UFC Comes Calling for Aldo After WEC Featherweight Title
This set Aldo up with his first ever championship tilt opposite Mike Brown, who he positively starched with a Knockout of the Night performance. He next etched two consecutive title defenses over the aforementioned Faber and Gamburyan before the WEC was eventually bought out by the UFC and, by extension, Aldo’s contract.
Arriving with much fanfare into his new promotion, Aldo was swiftly promoted to the undisputed UFC Featherweight Championship and made his first defense against Mark Hominick, winning by unanimous decision in just his second five round contest ever. He then proceeded to blow through the rest of the division for the next four years, toppling some of the best 145-lbers in the world at the time in Frankie Edgar, The Korean Zombie (Jung Chan-sung), Ricardo Lamas, and Chad Mendes twice.
Having not lost a fight in over ten years, Aldo was viewed by some to be the pound-for-pound number one fighter on the planet. It looked as though no one alive could even dream to dethrone the seemingly invincible Brazilian. That was until a young and brash competitor all the way from Ireland named Conor McGregor stepped up to challenge the champion after winning the interim strap from Mendes five months previous. Charging forth with the intention of obliterating the cocky Irishman, Aldo instantly fell prey to a monstrous left hook just 13 seconds into the fight, falling to the canvas completely unconscious.
The upset shocked the world of combat sports, bringing an end to one of the most prolific championship reigns in UFC history while thrusting McGregor into superstardom. Fortunately for Aldo, he didn’t have to wait long to get his hands on company gold once more, as he would best Edgar for a second time to claim the 145-lb interim belt, but was made the undisputed champion after McGregor was stripped due to inactivity.
A Second Chance at Featherweight Gold
This set up “Junior” versus another young contender in a surging Max Holloway. In what turned out to be another massive surprise, however, Holloway brought down Aldo in the third round with punches after what looked like an easy performance for the Hawaiian. Taking on “Blessed” again in an immediate rematch, Aldo came up short for a second time, again, by knockout in the third round.
From here, the Brazilian would never see another UFC title fight again, going 2-1 in his next three fights at featherweight before dropping down to 135 lbs.
Greatest Featherweights: Alexander Volkanovski
MMA record: 26-4
UFC record: 13-3
Number of UFC title defenses: 5
Following a highly successful career in rugby, Alexander Volkanovski made his professional mixed martial arts debut in 2012 at welterweight. Despite being undersized for most of his fights in the weight class, the Aussie won his first three fights while capturing the Cage Conquest and Roshambo MMA 170-lb championships.
He looked to be on his way to earning a third title, but a head kick knockout defeat to Corey Nelson in the AFC Welterweight Tournament saw his time in the ranks of the undefeated come to an end.
Over the next four years, Volkanovski competed at both featherweight and lightweight on the Australian and Chamorro (Guam) regional circuits, picking up four more championship straps until he made his debut in the UFC in 2016. Fighting in front of his home crowd on the biggest stage in MMA, “The Great” logged a second round knockout over Yusuke Kasuya. In his next appearance in the Octagon, he opted to make a permanent move to featherweight, beating the veteran Yusuke Kasuya by unanimous decision.
Fighting another four times in the next year, Volkanovski came across the toughest challenge of his career when he faced former featherweight champion, José Aldo, eventually defeating the Brazilian after a hard-fought unanimous decision victory.
Proving his place as the number one contender, Volkanovski vied for the UFC 145-lb championship, clashing with then three-time defending titleholder Max Holloway. Up until this point, the only people who had managed to beat “Blessed” were some of the greatest fighters of all time such as Dustin Poirier and Connor McGregor.
Volk Gets the Featherweight Strap
He also had not lost at featherweight in over six years. Banging up Holloway’s leg with a relentless barrage of leg kicks and crisp strikes on the feet, Volkanovski put on a masterclass performance over five rounds to claim the championship by unanimous decision in a monumental upset.
To kick off his reign as the new champion, the Aussie had to contend with Holloway for a second time in a subsequent rematch. Despite being downed twice in the first three rounds of their contest, “The Great” rallied in the championship rounds, pushing Holloway’s gas tank to its limits while showcasing his ever-improving stand-up game. By the time it was over, Volkanovski had defended his newly-acquired strap for the first time.
He would go on to retain his strap another four times, dominantly brushing past Brian Ortega, The Korean Zombie, Holloway for a third time, and Yair Rodríguez, with his only loss during this time coming against lightweight king Islam Makhachev.
By the time 2023 was nearly over, Volkanovski was viewed by many to be the best fighter on the planet, having defended his belt five times in a row and gave the champion from a weight class above him a very hard time. Sadly, after accepting a short-notice 11-day rematch with Makhachev at UFC 294, the Aussie closed out the year looking up at the lights following a disastrous first round knockout to the Russian, losing his place at the top of the mixed martial arts pecking order. Returning to featherweight in his next outing, Volkanovski battled rising contender Ilia Topuria a mere four months later.
While he did manage to take the first round, “The Great” eventually suffered his first loss at 145-lb ever when the Georgian boxer landed a stunning right hook that put him out for good, dropping his title to “El Matador.”
Who Is Greatest UFC Featherweight Champion of All-Time?
When compared against everyone else who has ever held the undisputed UFC 145-lb belt, Aldo and Volkanovski are clearly in a tier all their own, in addition to being some of the best MMA fighters in history. However, when it comes to deciding which one of these two titans of the division is better than the other, it isn’t as clear cut as one might imagine.
In the case of Aldo, he defended his title nine times throughout his tenure as champion in the WEC and the UFC, and looked mostly unbeatable doing it. Even after having his throne violently usurped by McGregor, he still was able to win back his strap against a grizzled veteran like Edgar.
For Volkanovski, although he didn’t attain as many defenses as his Brazilian counterpart, he did still notch six consecutive UFC championship wins at featherweight, beating Holloway three times and even Aldo himself. He also did what Aldo never did and vied for a second title, competing versus Makhachev on two different occasions, with their first fight being recognized as the 2023 Fight of the Year.
At this point in time, it is difficult to say just who is the top dog in featherweight history, as Volkanovski is still actively competing and appears to be tied to a potential rematch with Topuria some time this year. However, regardless of who fans, fighters, and other pundits choose as the apex of the 145-lb division, these two men have carved out legacies for themselves in the annals of mixed martial arts history, with legacies that may remain unsurpassed even by future generations of elite-level fighters for years to come.
