Filipe Toledo Makes Big Claims, Says He Surfs Better Than The GOAT, John John, Italo...

It's been a pretty quiet year for Filipe Toledo since he stepped back from the tour to focus on his mental health and be at his best for the Olympics. Yeah, in the immediate aftermath, he got quite a bit of heat for pulling out from the Pipe event and the conversation turned to his apprehension towards surfing big, shallow waves like Teahupo'o and Pipeline. It didn't take long for everyone to move on and give the man some peace, yet, his latest comments could really heat up some of his rivals on tour. While he's undoubtedly one of the best aerialists to ever put on a jersey, there's a lot more to being the "best" than just punting airs in small-to-mid-sized surf.

His two World Titles are a pretty clear case for his competitive dominance but the important footnote would be that they came from years which featured Finals Day at Lowers. Ask anybody, even John John, and they'll say Filipe is pretty damn tough to beat at Lowers. But in a recent interview on ESPN Brasil, they put the former champ on the spot with a pretty awkward question, "Who surfs better?" ("Quem surfar mais?" in Portuguese) and proceed to hit him with a pretty spicy list of surfers: Gabriel Medina, Kelly Slater, John John Florence, Italo Ferreira, Mineirinho, Mick Fanning, Tom Carrol, Yago Dora, Miguel Pupo, João "Chumbinho" Chianca, and the late Andy Irons.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDAN72NNQ1q/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

If you don't speak Portuguese, there's not much to understand in the video itself. The main takeaway would be that Filipe says he surfs better than everyone on that list except for Gabriel Medina, Mick Fanning, and Andy Irons; "Andy surfs better than the whole world combined!" was his response. While he didn't hesitate to give full respect to Medina and Fanning, there were others that he seemed to have a hard time with, namely, the GOAT.

When asked about Kelly he pauses and thinks before saying, "Now, yeah, I do. Back in his day? No way. But today, yeah I do." The interviewer follows up with John John, and Filipe takes a moment before nodding yes, signaling that he thinks he surfs better. He doesn't hesitate when it comes to Italo though, he's pretty quick on indicating that he thinks he surfs better.

These are big claims especially considering both John and Kelly have each won the Eddie, the most prestigious event in all of surfing, and more World Titles than Filipe (in Kelly's case, way more). Sure, he gives Kelly the benefit of being better when he was in his prime but the claim against John is pretty tall. Granted, the two of them are friends and I doubt JJF is sweating–he’s happily cruising as a new dad and 3x champ. With the new tour schedule ending in Fiji, if he makes it into the top 5, Filipe better hope that Cloudbreak is small or he may be eating his words.

It’d be great to see Filipe back in a jersey and back his words up, I know his Brazzo brethren would be more than happy to challenge the former champ. Who knows, maybe even the GOAT will come out of retirement...