Alexander Volkanovski does not consider himself one of the five greatest fighters ever.
The conversation over who is the Greatest of All Time is ever-present in MMA, and over the past few years, Volkanovski began to enter the conversation as he put together one of the greatest featherweight title runs ever. However, losses in three of his previous four fights (albeit two of those taking place up at lightweight to champion Islam Makhachev) have some fans reconsidering. And whether it’s his recent losses or the former champion is simply too humble to include himself, “The Great” does not think he rates in the Top-5 ever.
“Top 5 fighters of all time. Damn,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel while answering fan questions. “Alright, let’s get into it. I’m going to say Demetrious Johnson. I’m going to have to throw Jon Jones in there. Everyone knows my take on the trouble outside of it, but he’s just been champ — he’s been at the top forever. So you can’t not. I know a lot of people are always going to throw out them things — and I do myself because I pride myself on trying to stay away from all that crap as well — but you can’t deny his skill. He’s definitely one of the greatest of all time, so you have to give Jon Jones that.
“So Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre. Georges St-Pierre has definitely got to be there. … I’m going to have to throw Anderson Silva in there, and I’ll throw my boy Israel Adesanya as well. A lot of championships [and] when it comes to striking, I honestly think he’s the greatest striker the UFC has ever seen. So I’m going to go with Israel Adesanya as well.”
Adesanya and Volkanovski are teammates at City Kickboxing, so it’s no surprise the former featherweight champion showed him love. However, it is a bit surprising he left himself off the list. Some consider Volkanovski to be the greatest featherweight champion of all time, and his five successful title defenses rank second behind only UFC Hall of Famer Jose Aldo.
