Alexander Volkanovski has voiced frustration with the UFC\u2019s featherweight title picture following Movsar Evloev\u2019s majority decision victory over Lerone Murphy at UFC London, a result that could position Evloev as the next challenger.<\/p>\n
Evloev, the division\u2019s top-ranked contender, secured a controversial win in the main event at the O2 Arena, a performance that on paper strengthens his claim for a title shot. However, uncertainty remains over the UFC\u2019s next move, with Volkanovski previously booked in a rematch against Diego Lopes and potential new challengers such as Jean Silva emerging.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be honest with the Silva situation \u2014 he\u2019s yet to prove himself,\u201d Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel<\/a>, as noted by MMA Mania<\/a>. \u201cHe fought a top guy and lost \u2014 a guy I beat twice comfortably. If I beat him, then he goes on to lose to your Movsars and Lerone Murphys, people are going to look back and say, \u2018Why did he fight that guy?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Volkanovski reiterated that he is willing to face any opponent but questioned the logic behind recent matchmaking decisions. \u201cI\u2019ll fight whoever the UFC tells me to,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut how many times am I going to fight guys that are undeserving when there\u2019s a clear No. 1 guy? It\u2019s getting ridiculous\u2026 and it\u2019s getting to the point where it makes me look like the bad guy for not fighting the No. 1 contender.\u201d<\/p>\n The champion pointed to Evloev\u2019s standing in the division as justification for a title opportunity. \u201cEveryone knows what type of champion I am,\u201d Volkanovski said. \u201cHow many times can I not fight the No. 1 contender? [Evloev] was already No. 1, then he fights No. 3. Those guys were clearly ahead of everyone else. Diego Lopes is No. 2, but I\u2019ve already fought him twice,\u201d according to his YouTube channel.<\/p>\n Volkanovski indicated that Evloev remains the most logical next opponent as he targets a return later this year. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously going to be Movsar,\u201d Volkanovski added. \u201cI\u2019m a pretty easy champ to understand, I will face the best. Even if UFC pushes someone like [Jean Silva] it would be whatever but it\u2019s gonna come to a point where it\u2019s like, what are we doing here? We\u2019re just wasting my [last few years].\u201d<\/p>\n The Australian champion is aiming to compete again in July or August as he looks to make the third defense of his title in his second reign, while continuing to push for a matchup with what he considers the division\u2019s most deserving contender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexander Volkanovski has voiced frustration with the UFC\u2019s featherweight title picture following Movsar Evloev\u2019s majority decision victory over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":["post-559569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}