All is right with the world once again. Alexander Volkanovski has won back his featherweight title and is back to his winning ways after taking a unanimous decision against the destructive Diego Lopes in their UFC 314 clash on Saturday. And the question on everyone’s mind is clear. What is next for ‘Volk’? Before the Lopes fight, the Aussie champ had talked about “taking out Movsar [Evloev] within three months.”
But another title contender emerged on UFC 314 as Yair Rodriguez utterly outclassed Bellator GOAT Patricio Pitbull to make the case for another title shot. “I’m a completely different person now… I feel like I can beat him,” ‘El Pantera’, who has already fought and lost to Volkanovski in their UFC 290 title clash two years ago, said after his victory.
However, Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, feels that the undefeated Russian phenom, Movsar Evloev, is the only real title contender in the division at the moment. “@MovsarUFC vs Volkanovski is the only fight that makes sense in the Featherweight division right now imho,” he wrote on X.
@MovsarUFC vs Volkanovski is the only fight that makes sense in the Featherweight division right now imho.
— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) April 14, 2025
Of course, Abdelaziz may not be the most objective guy to talk about the featherweight title shot since he is also Evloev’s manager. But to be fair, the undefeated Russian does have the best claim to a title shot at the moment. Moreover, the undefeated juggernaut even congratulated ‘Volk’ after his victory but also put forward his case with some statistics.
Evloev took to X and wrote, “I beat Diego Lopes, Aljamain Sterling, Arnold Allen, and Dan Ige. No one has a better resume than me in 145lbs except for the Champion. I have the longest winning streak in the Featherweight Division. Me vs. @alexvolkanovski end of June IFW.”
And this makes sense! After all, Rodriguez has already had his title shot, and it would be fair that Evloev gets to fight for the title before ‘El Pantera’ gets a second go. But what does Alexander Volkanovski think of this?
Who does Alexander Volkanovski want to fight next after UFC 314?
Alexander Volkanovski is a guy who would fight anyone, anytime and anywhere. It’s pretty evident after his antics against Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 where he stepped in on 11 days’ notice to fight for a second belt. So you wouldn’t be surprised to know that the new featherweight champion is ready and has left the decision of his first title defense up to the UFC. But he did talk about wanting to snap Evloev’s streak and felt that Yair Rodriguez had done enough at UFC 314 to be considered his first challenger.
“Yair looked great. I hear that he was saying [he wanted] a title shot. He’s a good dude. I like him a lot. If the UFC want to give it to him, I ain’t gonna stop that. I’ll be honest, before that fight I didn’t think he would get a shot. I’ll be honest about that but now that he’s calling, I’m not going to be the one to say no. I’ll leave everything to the UFC. Obviously, you’ve got guys like Movsar who’s undefeated. I’d love to take that zero,” ‘The Great’ told reporters after UFC 314.
Whoever Volkanovski faces next, that fight is going to be very important for ‘Volk’. After all, he is one successful title defense away from equalling the legendary Jose Aldo’s record of eight UFC featherweight title fight wins. If the Aussie great indeed does manage to win his next fight, it would cement him as the 145-pound GOAT. What do you think about team Khabib’s thoughts about Alexander Volkanovski’s next opponent?
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