New challengers have been flocking towards the top in the UFC featherweight division all year, and now that the current champ has disposed of two GOATs it would seem to be their time.
Aljamain Sterling, Diego Lopes, and Movsar Evloev are all close to a title shot, at most one win away, and Lerone Murphy is making a beeline up the rankings too with his undefeated record (a distinction he shares with Evloev) and two recent ranked wins over veterans.
However, it appears none of them will be next. Even the winner of Sterling vs Evloev, presumably a number one contender bout, will have to wait for Alex Volkanovski according to Dana White at the UFC 308 post-fight press conference.
Dana White is asked if Volkanovski is next for Topuria:
We’re not gonna say no to Volkanovski.#UFC pic.twitter.com/HecBQLsArx
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) October 26, 2024
His comments notably do not discuss who deserves the chance to fight Topuria, just that the UFC are not going to say no to Volk because, “He has been that guy for us anytime we’ve needed him.”
That reasoning is not hard to understand; Volkanovski accepted multiple short-notice fights, even as a champion, that helped the company out. The most notable instance was when Alexander ‘the Great’ moved up a weight class on one week’s notice when Charles Oliveira got injured and removed from his scheduled lightweight title rematch with Islam Makhachev.
Although the Aussie champ got finished in the first round, he stepped up to save a big card in Abu Dhabi and won the respect of those few fans who did not already have massive admiration for him after he nearly beat Makhachev in their first fight.
Volkanovski beat one of the best fighters ever, Max Holloway, three times in title fights, which alone earned him legend status along with almost dethroning Makhachev. When considering his five title defenses, his wins over Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes, and his ‘Great Escape’ from the mounted guillotine of Brian Ortega, it is undeniable that Alex Volkanovski is himself also one of the greatest ever, like the defending featherweight champs who came before him, Max Holloway and Jose Aldo.
At this point, however, fans of Volk painfully must note that he is 1-3 in his last four and has been put out cold by knockouts in his last two fights. He fought a close first round with Ilia at 298 but showed little to suggest that he can take over in a rematch, whereas Topuria can always put him out with his fists.
As a result, his fans await his next fight with perhaps more trepidation than excitement. Volkanovski just turned 36; time will not improve the reflexes and durability which age takes away.
It may be a good fight when it takes place, and his place in the division cannot be denied, but it is a shame that the world is likely to see such a once-dominant and still-beloved GOAT lose yet again and hold up the division in the process.
At least the skill and youth of Ilia Topuria will give him the chance to be around for a while yet to answer the questions that all the new generation challengers will be asking of him.
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