Who is going to challenge the featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski, next? This is the question that has been bothering the fighting community for quite some time now. And of course, ‘The Great’ wasn’t immune to it as well. Following his victory over Diego Lopes at UFC 314, many claimed that he should defend his featherweight belt against Movsar Evloev. Meanwhile, many others put him against Lopes in a rematch. But things seemed to go haywire with the recent fiasco between Lopes and Yair Rodriguez.

Amidst all that drama, rumors of Rodriguez getting a title shot against Volkanovski were also running wild. Needless to say, Lerone Murphy and many others didn’t believe that it was good for the division. According to Murphy, Rodriguez wasn’t really a good matchup for Volkanovski, and he pleaded with Dana White to get Evloev a shot at the featherweight title. But what does the champion think of it? 

UFC Australia and New Zealand recently shared a clip on X where ‘The Great’ weighed in on his next bout. He said, “What’s next for me? So, nothing’s too clear. There’s a lot of moving parts. Obviously, before the fight, I was thinking it’s gonna be Movsar, but I think he’s fighting. He mentioned him fighting…” That’s true, too. Evloev is currently set to battle Aaron Pico on 26th July, which means a matchup between Volkanovski and Evloev might not happen anytime soon. 

The Australian champion continued, “Hearing Yair’s name getting mentioned a fair bit. Just a date of September has, you know, but that’s just probably not the best date. Obviously, I’m having a baby that month. So, if we could work around that, that would be better. So, we’ll just see what’s happening. Again, a lot of moving parts. We’re planning on having a chat with the boss, you know, Dana and Hunter [Campbell], very soon. So, we’ll see what’s going on.” 

While the featherweight title still lies in a bit of uncertainty, there are a few names that Volkanovski wanted to go up against. And if things went in the right direction, the UFC might even look to make it happen. But who exactly is the one man that Volkanovski thinks is the most deserving challenger for a title shot? Let’s find out!

Who does Alexander Volkanovski want to fight next? 

Prior to his victory over Lopes at UFC 314, Volkanovski declared, “I think Movsar is definitely deserving.” He even had the timeline all set up. He planned to win the bout against Lopes, call Evloev out, and if the undefeated Russian wanted it too, the duo would make it happen after 3 months. However, things didn’t really work out with Evloev, and the UFC scheduled him to fight Pico after almost 3 months of UFC 314. 

On the other hand, things were arguably moving forward with ‘El Pantera’. But Volkanovski was stuck on just one name. Talking to Ariel Helwani after his big win, ‘The Great’ said, “Yair was saying he wants the title shot. He’s a good dude. I like him a lot. If the UFC wants to give it to him, I’m not going to stop that for him, but yeah, if I’d be honest, before that fight, I don’t think he’d be getting the shot. Now that he’s calling it, I’m not going to be the one saying no. I’m going to leave everything to the UFC. Obviously you’ve got Mosvar, he’s undefeated, and I would love to that that zero. We got to see what the UFC says.”

Now, it seems like Volkanovski will have to wait a bit longer to get an opponent of his choice. But if we go according to logic, the most deserving featherweight contender should be next in line for the title shot. And that’s none other than Evloev, especially after Max Hollway and Ilia Topuria moved up to lightweight for good. Nevertheless, we still have to wait for White to make the final announcements. Where do you see the chips falling at featherweight?