"Are we forgetting about Jose Aldo?" - Max Holloway says he's "not even close" to being the featherweight GOAT
Max Holloway has long dominated the UFC as a featherweight. His 13-fight win streak (2014-18) was the most dominant stretch in the division's history, prompting many to proclaim the Hawaiian as the featherweight GOAT. However, Holloway himself does not agree.
In an interview with Luke Thomas from Morning Kombat, the former featherweight champion addressed the debate:
"I trip out whenever somebody says, 'We're gonna find out who the best 145-er in the world ever,' I'm like, are we forgetting about Jose Aldo? This guy with seven title defenses in the UFC, this guy went undefeated for a certain amount of years. We're just gonna forget about it? Okay, yeah, I finished him twice but it is what it is. He still has stats, he still has records."
The current No.1-ranked contender also laid out the parameters to be considered the greatest featherweight of all time:
"[Aldo] has records that you still have to beat to be the GOAT. He has seven title defenses, go beat that, go get eight and then call yourself the GOAT. I'm not even close, how much title defenses have I got? Like three or something, right? So I gotta get like four more or something."
Check out Max Holloway's comments in the interview below:
Max Holloway is some way off Jose Aldo's featherweight record
Aldo is far ahead of the competition with seven UFC featherweight title defenses and a total of 11 title bout wins across his featherweight career. Eight of those wins came in the UFC and three in the WEC. 'Blessed' only has five title bout wins at 145 pounds.
However, what Holloway does have over Aldo is his head-to-head record and his youth. The two featherweight legends have faced off twice in successive fights, and both times 'Blessed' has come out on top and finished his Brazilian counterpart.
He unified the featherweight championship in the first fight and then successfully defended it six months later, knocking out Aldo in the third round both times. Still going strong at 30 years of age, Holloway has a chance to regain the featherweight championship against Alexander Volkanovski this weekend.
Volkanovski and Holloway will go up against each other for a third time at UFC 276 in the co-main event. Holloway is already down 2-0 to the featherweight champion and will look to avenge his previous defeats. This also offers him a chance at getting closer to matching Jose Aldo's monumental featherweight legacy.
Will Max Holloway finally regain the title that he lost in 2019?