Top 5: UFC Featherweight Title Fights of All-Time

Alexander Volkanovski drifted as close to the ledge as possible. The determined Aussie withstood a pair of harrowing submission attempts from Brian Ortega and retained the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight crown with a five-round unanimous decision over the longtime Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt in the UFC 266 headliner on Sept. 25, 2021 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Scores were 49-46, 50-45 and 50-44.

Their story was told across five grueling rounds before a crowd of more than 19,000. Volkanovski let fly with powerful two- and three-punch combinations, pestered the Californian with his jab and refused to take his foot off the accelerator. Round 3 was sensational. Ortega knocked the champion off-balance with a left hand, jumped on a mounted guillotine choke and appeared to be a heartbeat or two away from finishing it. Volkanovski freed himself and moved into top position, only to find himself entangled in a triangle choke—the very maneuver from which the challenger’s nickname originates. Again, the Freestyle Fighting Gym rep managed to escape. Ferocious ground-and-pound followed, and an exhausted Ortega struggled to get to his feet once the round was complete. He threatened Volkanovski’s neck again in the fourth, where he struck for a takedown and immediately clamped down on a brabo choke. Unable to involve his legs, Ortega was forced to release the hold and yet again absorbed savage ground strikes for his troubles, his counterpart’s spear tipped by brutal standing-to-ground punches.

Both men were visibly spent in Round 5 but never stopped firing punches at one another. Having absorbed upwards of 200 significant strikes, Ortega was barely recognizable by fight’s end. Volkanovski, meanwhile, was barreling toward a historic 1,526-day reign as champion.

Nearly four years later, it remains one of the greatest UFC featherweight title fights of all-time. Here are four more to consider:

Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar

UFC 156
Feb. 2, 2013 | Las Vegas
Aldo withstood the most significant test of his featherweight title reign, and it came as a surprise to no one that it was “The Answer” who administered it. Buoyed by his trademark Louisville Slugger low kicks, a stringing right jab and a flair for the spectacular, the Brazilian retained his 145-pound championship with a unanimous decision over Edgar in the UFC 156 main event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. All three judges gave Aldo the nod: 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47. The Nova Uniao cornerstone sprang out of the gate like a thoroughbred, punishing Edgar with his jab and low kicks. The first and second rounds clearly went the champion’s way, as he utilized his dizzying combination of technique, power and speed to keep the indomitable Edgar at bay. By the middle of Round 3, however, Aldo had slowed and the momentum had begun to shift ever so subtly. Edgar kept pushing his frenetic pace and started to find a home for his punches, his attack spearheaded by his right hand. A lightning-quick front kick to the face from Aldo may have been all that kept him from surrendering the round, as the challenger forced him to abandon his focus on the legs for fear of being taken down. Edgar turned up the heat over the final 10 minutes, hoisting and slamming the Andre Pederneiras protege to the canvas in the fourth round and supplying more multi-punch fire in the fifth. Aldo answered in the waning seconds, as he sprang off the cage and cracked his challenger with a beautiful Superman punch to stem the negative tide and walk away as champion.

Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes

UFC 179
Oct. 25, 2014 | Rio de Janeiro
Not even the best Mendes had to offer was enough to dethrone a Brazilian icon. Aldo tightened his grip on the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s featherweight crown with a unanimous decision over the two-time NCAA All-American wrestler in the UFC 179 headliner at Maracanazinho Gymnasium. All three cageside judges awarded the champion four rounds, as he swept the scorecards with identical 49-46 marks. Mendes forced the Nova Uniao standout to bend further than anyone had before—he landed 85 strikes, 77 of them significant—but never could shift momentum fully in his favor. Aldo connected on a career-high 102 significant strikes, outlanding the challenger in every round but the fourth. Mendes completed only one of his eight attempted takedowns. It was the final stop on an 18-fight winning streak that placed Aldo among MMA’s pound-for-pound greats. A little more than a year later, he ran into a counter left hook from Conor McGregor that forever altered the sport’s landscape.

Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway

UFC 251
July 11, 2020 | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Volkanovski retained his featherweight championship by the narrowest of margins when he eked out a split decision over the Hawaiian in their contentious co-main event at the Flash Forum. All three judges turned in 48-47 scorecards: David Lethhaby for the challenger, Mark Collett and Clemens Werner for the champion. Operating in the shadows of the Kamaru Usman-Jorge Masvidal headliner, Holloway mixed his attacks to the head, legs and body while appearing to jump out to a two-rounds-to-none lead. However, but he gradually allowed the Australian back into the fight. Volkanovski did his best work in the fourth and fifth rounds, where he incorporated takedowns, hid chopping right hands behind a punishing jab and chipped away with kicks to the inside and outside of the Hawaiian’s lead leg. By the time it was over, the two rivals had combined to land 292 significant strikes against one another.

Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick

UFC 129
April 30, 2011 | Toronto
A grueling encounter between world-class featherweights left Hominick with a tennis ball-sized hematoma on his forehead and the undisputed champion barely able to stand. Aldo retained his title after 25 minutes of hand-to-hand combat with the Canadian in their co-main event at Rogers Centre. Scores were 50-43, 48-46 and 49-46. Backed by many of his countrymen in a record-setting crowd of 55,724, Hominick earned his opponent’s respect. Aldo controlled vast stretches of the fight with his chopping low kicks, takedowns and power punches. He grounded Hominick four times in the first two rounds, opening a horizontal cut below the eye with a short, digging elbow. In Round 3, Aldo wobbled the challenger with a crisp left hook and dropped him with a straight right hand-left hook combination. He showered Hominick with hammerfists, but the courageous Canadian stayed in the fight, recaptured full guard and recovered from the onslaught. Aldo returned to his trademark low kicks in the fourth round and again put “The Machine” on the canvas, this time with a powerful right hand up the middle. On the ground, he fired off another elbow, which raised the grotesque swelling on Hominick’s head. The cageside physician took a long look at the Thamesford, Ontario, native and allowed him to continue. Still, Hominick had his moments, as he used a stout jab and straight right hand to trouble his fellow World Extreme Cagefighting alum in spurts. He did all he could to erase his deficit in the fifth round, where he delivered a takedown on the fatigued Aldo and unleashed a stream of ground-and-pound from the top. It was not nearly enough. The exhausted Aldo weathered the blows, bought himself some time and maintained his grip on the featherweight division.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor, UFC 194; Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway, UFC 308; Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway, UFC 245; Max Holloway vs. Jose Aldo, UFC 212; Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega, UFC 231