Is Chris Weidman the greatest middleweight ever because he beat Anderson Silva twice? The answer is certainly, no! I am not a believer in if you beat somebody you take everything they’ve earned with you as your own. I think that is silly.
Max Holloway, as much as I am a fan of this young man, and while he has defeated Jose Aldo twice, is not, and was not the greatest featherweight of all-time coming into his fight last night against Alexander despite Joe Rogan’s relentless touting of him as the consensus G.O.A.T!
Jose Aldo is still the featherweight goat! Moving from the WEC to the UFC as featherweight champion and then continuing to take out everybody that was put in front of him until he ran into McGregor.
Becoming the G.O.A.T is no easy undertaking for any human being. The moniker itself gets thrown around way too loosely.
To earn the accolade one should have to have surpassed the accomplishments of the person that everybody said was the greatest of all time? In this instance, Holloway 3 straight title defenses, Aldo 7!
This article, by the way, is in no way, shape or form being written to bag on Holloway, I’m a fan and picked him to win last night. This post is directed toward those that follow Rogan’s train of thought, or the narrative should I say that he has been trying to paint.
Volkanovski implemented the perfect game plan last night inside the octagon. Stopping Holloway’s movement by taking out his legs. He was laser-focused with his leg kicks and mixed in some great striking to confuse and throw Holloway off of his gameplan which always includes great footwork. It’s hard to get out of the way of an opponent when your legs are injured and unable to perform as you normally would which is what Holloway experienced last night in losing his featherweight championship.
Holloway is 28 years old and far from done with this sport. I for one am very interested in seeing how he rebounds from this because that is how we will base our thoughts on his legacy moving forward.
The true featherweight greatest of all time Jose Aldo competed last night as well, only last night he did it as a bantamweight for the 1st time.
Aldo took on the number one ranked bantamweight contender in the world for his new division debut in fellow Brazilian Marlon Moraes last night.
Many were surprised at this booking, but it was the one Aldo asked for. His thought process behind it was quite simple, if he was going to put his body through hell to make the drop to bantamweight, it had to have meaning and value.
Many were concerned that Aldo wasn’t going to be able to make weight, let alone compete as a bantamweight, and he surprised everybody by not only making weight with no issues but bringing the fight to Moraes.
After eating a huge head kick that wobbled him in the beginning of the 1st round, Aldo seemed to find his rhythm and his pace. He clearly won the 2nd round and on my card, he also took the 3rd.
Moraes controlled the 1st 2 minutes of the 1st round, and then Aldo controlled the octagon and the pace of the fight the rest of the way.
The striking numbers were close, however, Aldo did enough to win the fight, but the judges scored it for Moraes. It wasn’t a blatant robbery by the judges, but they did get it wrong in my opinion.
Aldo looked fresh and crisp throughout the contest. It truly was inspiring to see a rejuvenated Aldo do work inside the octagon last night. I expect we will see him return very soon to take on another top bantamweight and try to fight his way to an eventual title shot in his new weight class.
To sum it all up just like the title of this article, the greatest featherweight of all time lost last night at UFC 245, and so did Max Holloway!
Christopher James has been in the MMA industry for 15 years, Working as a ring announcer for promotions like the XFC, Island Fights, Combat Night and Fight Nights Global during his career. Chris’ love for the sport and the athletes that partake in it led him to writing and doing face to face interviews with the athletes he admired and respected. Chris isn’t conventional by any stretch of the imagination, he has his own style, and takes pride in not being a “cookie-cutter” member of the media. Unique and sometimes controversial takes are what he brings to the table, forcing folks to think a little differently about the world of MMA. He also has a love for music as he has been a dj for 25 years and his love for music gets brought to the MMA world when he gets his guests to sing on his weekly show Cage Side with Christopher James which can be seen Wednesday nights on FACEBOOK LIVE, and soon via podcast.