Jon Jones can’t seem to catch a break these days.
Not long after getting passed over for the UFC White House card in June, “Bones” was snubbed by featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. “The Great” recently put together his list of the Top 5 greatest UFC fighters of all time and “Bones” was nowhere to be found.
That said, Volkanovski did confess to a bias toward Oceanic fighters.
“Top five UFC GOATs? I’m gonna be completely honest: Demetrious Johnson,” Volkanovski said during a YouTube Q&A. “I
don’t know how many title fights he won. The competition and level at flyweight, I don’t think people understand, it is so competitive. The best fighters in the world are in the lighter weights. Georges St-Pierre. Who else we got? I think Islam (Makhachev) has done enough to put himself in that conversation, I think I would put him there. This might be bias but I’m gonna throw in Israel Adesanya. You’ve got to remember who he’s beat, beating Robert Whittaker in his prime twice. You’ve got Anderson Silva, obviously, who’s done incredible things as well and again, we have got to look at the timing as well. People might say it’s bias but alright, I’m biased anyway, but I’m throwing Izzy in there.”
Unlike Jones, Adesanya was unsuccessful in his bid to capture a second title in a higher weight class.
“Honorable mentions? You got Khabib [Nurmagomedov] over there, as well,” Volkanovski added. “Khabib could have easily done it. I mean, you could just do it because of the fact he was undefeated, but I don’t care about undefeated. I care about who you fought. But the way he won is, he was so dominant, even though he doesn’t have as good a resume as some of the others. even Charles [Oliveira] has got as many wins as him, but he’s got other losses. But in saying that as well, Khabib was clearly dominant through them fights and didn’t take much damage and looked much better than his opponents. So that’s why I’ve still, even though I believe in resume heavily, he’s still right up there because of how he did it. I just think resume wise, Islam’s got him.”
Here’s Volkanovski’s Top 5:
Demetrious Johnson (25-4-1)
Georges St. Pierre (26-2)
Anderson Silva (34-11, 1 NC)
Israel Adesanya (24-5)
Islam Makhachev (28-1)
Honorable mention: Khabib Nurmagomedov (29-0)
Even with his troubles both inside and outside the cage, it’s hard to deny Jones (28-1, 1 NC) a place on the list of greatest UFC fighters of all time. “Bones” holds the record fight title fight wins at 16 and completely dominated the light heavyweight division for more than a decade.
Just ask this GOAT.
