Alexander Volkanovski commenced the second leg of his featherweight championship run by beating Diego Lopes for the second time at UFC 325 in Sydney earlier this year. Following that masterclass performance, the Aussie’s next title defense appears all but confirmed.

Taking to social media, the number one-ranked featherweight contender, Movsar Evloev, announced that he’s ready to come back at the end of the summer for his next fight. The Russian wrote “and new” in his post, reflecting that his next fight is indeed going to be for the championship.

“I am back, end of the summer, and new Inshallah,” Evloev posted on X.

This suggests a bout either in August or after August, i.e., September. Currently, the UFC is reportedly eyeing Islam Makhachev’s first welterweight title defense in August at UFC 330 in Philadelphia. According to ESPN, the UFC doesn’t have any fight events scheduled for that month. So, it makes perfect sense for the Volkanovski vs. Evloev fight to take place there. If they already have a title fight lined up for the month, the featherweight championship bout very likely could get pushed to September.

For a while, Movsar Evloev remained one of the top contenders in the division. However, multiple cancellations and injury-related issues marred the Russian’s chances, as he couldn’t compete throughout the entire 2025. Despite those setbacks, the Sunzha native made a stellar comeback with a win over Lerone Murphy at UFC London in March this year to cement his claim for the next shot at the title. Still, the 145 lbs title equation remained slightly complicated.

In an MMA Fighting interview, Evloev revealed that UFC apparently didn’t guarantee the winner of the UFC London headliner a title shot. That implied the promotion might be looking at Jean Silva as an option, especially after the Brazilian secured a statement victory against Arnold Allen at UFC 324 via unanimous decision.

However, Alexander Volkanovski made it clear that he’s only interested in fighting the #1 featherweight contender and exclaimed that Silva still needs to prove himself before getting a title shot. In that case, the featherweight champion remaining persistent with his desire to face Evloev could’ve played a major role in the fight finally materializing.

But the UFC, for its part, hasn’t officially confirmed anything yet. So as far as they are concerned, the matchup and its timeline are still very much up in the air.

Even so, the featherweight champion also seems to have shared a subtle tease from his end, potentially signaling that a fresh challenge could soon be heading his way.   

Alexander Volkanovski hints at his comeback fight 

Alexander Volkanovski is one of the fighters who uses social media to build hype around his fights. And ahead of his almost confirmed bout against Movsar Evloev, the two-time featherweight champion once again used the power of his online presence to stir excitement around his comeback with a cryptic message.

“Rinse and repeat 👊🍔✈️🦌,” ‘The Great’ wrote in the caption alongside a series of photos on Instagram.

Volkanovski posted various cooking and travelling photos in his latest post. But among them, he also included pictures of himself wearing Bangtao Muay Thai shorts, along with one featuring him in full UFC gear. Though he didn’t explicitly reveal anything about his next fight, the training clips and fight attire photo seemingly hinted that something big is cooking, potentially his fight with Movsar Evloev.

With a stellar featherweight clash on the horizon, Alexander Volkanovski will face a very different kind of test this time around. He has already shown everyone that he can deal with a dangerous power puncher like Diego Lopes at 37  years old, and he did it twice. So, it will be interesting to witness whether the Aussie can overcome Evloev’s grappling-heavy approach, perhaps by showing flashes of the masterclass he delivered against Islam Makhachev at UFC 284.