Georges St-Pierre delivered some high praise for Alexander Volkanovski following the featherweight champion’s latest title defense at UFC 290.
Volkanovski took on Yair Rodriguez in the headlining bout of UFC 290 last weekend, with Rodriguez entering the night as interim featherweight champion after “The Great” moved up to lightweight in a bid to claim a second UFC title at UFC 284.
The Australian came up short in his fight with lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, but a dominant performance that saw him finish Rodriguez in the third round reminded fans of just how good he is and garnered a rave review from one of MMA’s all-time greats.
“The way I see Alex Volkanovski is, he’s not a specialist,” St-Pierre explained on The MMA Hour. “He’s very good everywhere. And me when I was fighting, that was my strength…I was able to become the perfect nemesis to my opponent, and I think he’s using a similar strategy. When he fights someone, he takes always his opponent outside of his comfort zone.”
St-Pierre is a former two-division UFC champion and considered by many to be the greatest fighter in the history of MMA, which makes it all the more significant to hear the 42-year-old claim that Volkanovski is currently the best in the sport.
“He’s one of my favorite fighters to watch, I love watching him," St-Pierre said. "I think he’s the best right now, probably the best active fighter. The best pound-for-pound right now.”
“The Great” has several options on the table for his next fight after defending his featherweight title for a fifth time, including possibly moving back up to lightweight for a rematch with Makhachev.
Volkanovski could also elect to stay at featherweight for a matchup with the undefeated Ilia Topuria, and recently the Australian even suggested he’d be open to welcoming another UFC titleholder to the division that he’s ruled for almost four years.
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