Has Jean Silva fallen behind the line after the UFC Fight Night London announcement? While Movsar Evloev will challenge Leorne Murphy in the main event of the card, the winner is likely to get a featherweight title shot. With the title sitting comfortably around Alexander Volkanovski after UFC 325, conversations about the next title challenger have taken an interesting yet all-too-familiar turn.

Looks like Jean Silva is emerging as the people’s favorite for the title shot since his dominant victory against Arnold Allen at UFC 324 last month. The fighter himself has long eyed the division gold, although a Noche UFC stumble against Diego Lopes, Volkanovski’s latest challenger, flipped the narrative upside down. Now, back in the media buzz, Silva’s case sounds louder than ever. That might just be noise after all, as the division king makes it clear.

Alexander Volkanovski pushes back on Jean Silva’s title shot discussions

In a recent video shared by Volkanovski, ‘The Great’ addressed Silva’s recent online campaign for the title shot, which appeared to be nothing short of personal jabs at Volkanovski. “If the UFC obviously were to push that for me, everyone knows me—I’ll fight anyone. But I don’t think that’s very likely to happen, right? I don’t think he’d be in a position to be able to fight for the title, especially when you’ve got Lerone Murphy and Movsar fighting very, very soon. So I think that’s pretty clear,” he shut the Jean Silva talks.

For those who are not aware, Silva, who has been extremely active on social media since Volkanovski’s latest title defense, has been vocal about training with Ilia Topuria to “break” the featherweight champion. Volkanovski suspects the rage is directed towards him since Silva’s Fighting Nerds teammate Mauricio Ruffy trained with Volk for his fight with Rafael Fiziev. However, some attacks tiptoe around hype-driven marketing tactics over personal beef.

Silva’s tweet, “Champions don’t pick opponents. Champions defend,” felt like the perfect UFC cliche talk to. Since Volkanovski understands the antics of the fighting business, he’s clearly not interested in playing the same game all over again.

Hype, commercial appeal, and marketability made fights like Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett for the interim title or Volk vs. Lopes 2 happen, while other more deserving contenders bit the dust. Arman Tsarukyan remained a spectator to a show where he should’ve entered the Octagon. Meanwhile, Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy were stripped of the conversations altogether.

Alexander Volkanovski, however, isn’t all that happy with today’s UFC, where star power takes center stage, keeping top contenders aside.

Alexander Volkanovski is clear on his post-UFC 325 ambitions

‘The Great’ went the distance through 5 gruelling rounds in the first title defense of his second reign, to fruitful effect. The victory feels sweeter given it came in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. However, Volkanovski isn’t quite interested in indulging in his success, with his mind already set on his next title defense.

Speaking with the post-fight presser, Volkanovski expressed his willingness to run his title reign against the division’s No. 1 title contender, Movsar Evloev, riding a 19-fight win streak. He’s already booked to put his case forth against featherweight No. 3 Lerone Murphy at UFC London on March 21st. While ‘Volk’ made a case for both undefeated fighters, his preference leans slightly towards Evloev.

“I think Movsar’s 19-0, he’s got that wrestling and grappling style that’s taking over the UFC at the moment. The new era, they could say. Undefeated. I’m looking at the storyline. They are both good storylines, but probably Movsar,” Volk shared. In fact, according to the division king, Evloev ends up taking the win home at London, making him the natural next title contender.

While, as of now, there’s no guarantee whatsoever as to whether the winner of the Murphy vs. Evloev fight gets the next title show, the bout would undoubtedly make a strong case for both fighters. With Alexander Volkanovski sounding the loudest horns for that matchup, fans might as well expect ‘The Great’ take on either of the undefeated fighters. What bout would you like to see happen? Comment below.