The last two fights of UFC 333 produced two successful title defenses, and by Monday morning the coronations were already in print. Lindy’s Sports, in a column republished by Yahoo Sports, declared Alexander Volkanovski and Petr Yan the best ever in their divisions. MMA Sucka ran a headline saying Yan had just made his case for bantamweight GOAT status. I’m taking the Yan side of that argument without hedging. The reason matters more than the verdict, though, because his case is built differently from Volkanovski’s, and it’s stronger for it.
The trilogy is the case
Everything about Yan’s claim runs through Merab Dvalishvili. Before he ran into Yan again, Dvalishvili was the name some people put at the top of the all-time bantamweight list. Yan took the belt back from him last year, then defended it against him at UFC 333 to finish their trilogy 2-1. You can argue eras and resumes all afternoon, but when the two leading candidates share a cage three times and one of them wins twice, you’re arguing with the scoreboard.
Most GOAT debates stall because the contenders never met, so everyone retreats to hypotheticals and strength-of-schedule charts. Bantamweight’s top two settled the head-to-head in person. That is about as clean as this kind of evidence gets in combat sports, and it’s why “cemented” fits Yan better than it usually fits anyone.
The losses come with footnotes
The pushback writes itself. Yan has losses on his record at 135, and they came while he was supposed to be in his prime. Look at what they are, though. He dropped his first title defense to Aljamain Sterling by disqualification, which is still the only DQ in a UFC title fight. That result belongs in the loss column, and it tells you nothing about Sterling having figured him out.
The rough patch that followed included a couple of close split decisions that Lindy’s described as controversial. I’ve watched enough rounds handed to whoever had the louder corner to give a fighter some benefit of the doubt on contested splits. A close split is a judging argument first and a referendum on the fighter a distant second.
Strip those away and look at the actual runs. The first one went through Urijah Faber for the title shot and Jose Aldo for the belt. The second one went through Dvalishvili twice. Lindy’s leans on the two-reign argument for Volkanovski, and it applies just as well at 135. Yan won the title against one generation of contenders, lost it on a technicality, spent time in the wilderness, and came back to beat the man who’d been called the best ever.
Cruz and the Hall of Fame question
Lindy’s names Dominick Cruz as Yan’s only real competition for the all-time spot and picks Yan as the better fighter. Same pick here. Cruz is a UFC Hall of Famer and nobody’s taking that away from him. But Yan has something a resume comparison can’t manufacture, which is two wins over the other fighter whose name was on the throne when he arrived.
Volkanovski’s case is the numbers case
The main event is a useful contrast. Volkanovski’s claim is built on volume. His knockout of Movsar Evloev, who walked in at 20-0, gave him nine featherweight title wins, breaking the tie he held with Aldo for the most in UFC history. His first reign ran through Max Holloway three times, Yair Rodriguez, The Korean Zombie and Brian Ortega. After losing the belt to Ilia Topuria, his second reign has gone through Diego Lopes twice and now Evloev, and he did that last part at 38.
Volume is easier to defend in a bar argument because you can count it. A rivalry win is harder to argue with because you can watch it. Both men have legitimate claims, and both of them beat Aldo along the way, which makes the Lindy’s subhead that briefly crowns Yan the “UFC Featherweight GOAT” a typo Aldo would probably prefer everyone skip past.
What’s next favors both champions. Volkanovski has potential defenses against Jean Silva, Kevin Vallejos and Sterling (yes, the same Sterling who holds the DQ over Yan), plus a possible superfight with lightweight champion Justin Gaethje. Yan is 33, and the only thing his case lacks is the long count of title wins Volkanovski just set a record with. He already won the rivalry. Stack a few more defenses at 135 and the volume argument stops being an argument.
