Opinion: Alexander Volkanovski’s Demolition of Movsar Evloev Cements Him as the Featherweight GOAT

Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski has cemented his position as arguably the greatest UFC featherweight champion of all time as he surpasses Jose Aldo’s eight title wins with nine of his own.

Volk, the man who “prepares for specifics,” Joe “Superstar” from the latest Street Fighter flick, and Volk from Cooking with Volk on YouTube demolished previously undefeated, grappling-heavy Russian Movsar Evloev in a pretty one-sided TKO victory.

Evloev was undoubtedly the division’s second-best fighter next to Volk, but simultaneously the least dangerous stylistically. This is primarily due to his having no finishes in the UFC and settling for razor-close fights that he arguably lost to the likes of Arnold “The Almighty” Allen, Diego Lopes (who had just made his debut at the time), and most recently Lerone Murphy.

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Volk’s current string of wins is a generational showcase of greatness coming off two tough losses to then lightweight, now welterweight champion Islam Makhachev and former featherweight and lightweight champion Ilia Topuria.

If you actually watched those fights in detail, Volk was never outclassed or dominated in those matchups. The first fight with Makhachev was the Dagestani’s toughest test to date, with the Aussie even ending the fight on top, landing vicious ground-and-pound. The second fight (which Volk should probably have avoided taking off the couch) ended quickly with the Russian making the cleverest read, capped by a head kick.

In between those matchups, before we forget, Volk dismantled resident rank-squatting merchant Yair Rodriguez in a pretty one-sided beatdown.

The featherweight champ then took on the man with the touch of death, Ilia Topuria, who actually had trouble gauging the distance in the first round of their fight.

Volk had been keeping Topuria at bay with his piston-like jab and persistent calf kicks until the Georgian-Spaniard caught the Aussie with a four-punch combo against the cage.

The insanity of this lead-up is that the Aussie mixed martial artist beat a dangerous Diego Lopes twice, which is crazy considering the Brazilian’s brain-rattling power that overcame current division bogeyman Jean “Lord” Silva (who also has considerable power in his hands and a maniacally imposing forward pressure).

Plain and simple, the Aussie legend folded Evloev because the Russian had yet to deal with being the nail in a fight. He always had a get-out-of-jail-free card via his ability to control people on the ground.

Volk has this monstrous strength, probably developed in his days as a semi-professional rugby league player, and his remarkably low center of gravity makes him a nightmare for wrestling-heavy fighters to deal with and actually hold down.

For the longest time, Jose Aldo was seen as the undeniable and undisputed featherweight GOAT because of how long he held the belt starting in his WEC days (1,848 days). After the iconic 13-second slip-counter left straight by a certain notorious Irishman heard around the world and Max Holloway’s impressive reign following Conor McGregor’s double-champ and boxing shenanigans, the division’s GOAT conversation became a divisive topic.

Many attribute this narrative shift to Joe Rogan’s tendency to hype up legacies based on recency bias; the most egregious example was him claiming Ronda Rousey could best Floyd Mayweather in a fight.

During this same era, Rogan already declared Holloway the greatest featherweight of all time, even if he only had three title defenses.

The most logical argument going for Holloway was that he beat Aldo twice, but even so, it didn’t really tick the longevity box of a GOATed championship reign.

The only ones left are McGregor and Topuria, who respectively had an impressive undefeated run in the division and stellar KOs, but combined they have only one title defense (Topuria vs. Holloway).

Now we get to Volk. The strongest argument, and maybe the most consequential, going for him is that he beat featherweight champions and contenders from the previous generation, his own generation, and even the new generation of killers at 145.

The Aussie beat Aldo as he was coming up in the division (though it was kind of boring); he beat Holloway three-nil in their trilogy, and he beat the new blood consisting of Lopes twice and Evloev.

Volk is also doing this at 38 years old and, as Lucas Tracy would say, is still out Speedy-Gonzalesing fighters who are nearly a decade his junior.

It’s kind of a no-brainer now that Volk is the featherweight GOAT based on quality of competition and the age at which he’s dismantling these guys.

The most exciting prospect for the living legend is that he still has a shot at finally capturing that elusive second belt if Justin Gaethje agrees to scrap.

Old man Volk is undoubtedly a mythical fighter for the ages.

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