Alexander Volkanovski has named his greatest UFC fighters of all time.
Volkanovski did not select himself among the list, but he did include his fellow Oceanic native, Israel Adesanya.
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‘The Great’ has lost three of his last four UFC bouts, most recently dropping his featherweight title to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 in February.
However, Volkanovski still remains one of the most accomplished fighters to ever grace Dana White’s octagon.
The 36-year-old won UFC gold for the first time by defeating Max Holloway five years ago at UFC 245 before defending the belt in five additional bouts.
“I’m going to say Demetrious Johnson. I’m going to have to throw Jon Jones in there,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel, listing his five greatest UFC fighters of all time.
“Everyone knows my take on the trouble outside of it, but I mean, he’s just been champ—at the top forever.
“So you can’t not [pick him]. 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.”
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Volkanovski also added that featherweight king Jose Aldo has the potential to be in his top five, as well as ‘many great champions’.
Adesanya is one of the Australian’s teammates at City Kickboxing, which is an MMA gym based in Auckland, New Zealand.
So it’s no surprise to see the former featherweight champion show him love by including him in his list of favourite fighters ever.
Adesanya is a two-time UFC middleweight champion, who defended his belt on numerous occasions.
He first won the 185-pound strap by knocking out Robert Whittaker at UFC 243—the UFC’s highest-attended event ever—before defending it five times in a row.
Alex Pereira, who is the current king of the light heavyweight division was the only man able to dethrone Adesanya.
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But it was ‘The Last Stylebender’ who got the last laugh as he knocked Pereira out in their rematch at UFC 287 in April 2023.
Adesanya has since lost back-to-back title bouts against Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis.
He is booked to fight Nassourdine Imavov on February 1 in what will be his first non-title fight in five years.
Volkanovski’s five successful title defences rank second, only behind Jose Aldo, and some consider him the greatest featherweight champion of all time.
He rose through the featherweight division in the three years since making his UFC debut in November 2016.
‘The Great’ then overcame Holloway in December 2019 to win UFC gold for the first time before beating him again to defend the title seven months later.
Volkanovski then proceeded to defend the belt a further four times, which included a third victory over Holloway, before dropping the belt to Topuria.
He battled Islam Makhachev twice for lightweight gold in 2023 and arguably should’ve won the pair’s first bout.
But Volkanovski was head-kicked out cold in their rematch, which many consider having a lasting effect on him that may never go away.
When asked about his retirement plans, Volkanovski confirmed that 2024 is the first time he has considered anything outside of MMA, due to the consecutive knockouts he has suffered.
The UFC returns to Sydney, Australia, on February 9 for UFC 212, and Volkanovski has previously expressed his desire to feature on the card.
Du Plessis takes on Strickland for the second time with the middleweight title on the line in the main event.