Alexander Volkanovski has made clear his preferred choice for his next opponent, as Movsar Evloev and Jean Silva wait to hear who will challenge the champion.
On Saturday, Evloev won a narrow decision against Lerone Murphy in the main event of UFC London, extending his record to 20-0 and confirming his status as the promotion’s No 1-ranked featherweight. However, sixth-ranked Silva continues to talk up his own chances of being paired with Volkanovski.
In Evloev’s post-fight press conference at the O2 Arena, he dismissed Silva as Volkanovski’s next challenger and talked up his own worthiness. And now, the Russian has been endorsed by the reigning champion.
“People are going to throw Silva[’s name out],” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “I don’t even know how people are really throwing that out. I’m quite certain it’s Movsar. Obviously the UFC, you never know, but I mean...
“Everyone knows what type of champion I am. I just don’t know how many times I can keep not fighting the No 1 contender. [Evloev] was the No 1 contender – he was already the No 1 contender – [and] just fought No 3. Both of them guys were in front of everyone else, pretty much.
“Diego Lopes, he’s No 2, but I just fought him twice. So, these are the two top guys, and they had to face each other, and then you did have a winner. So, it’s obviously clearly, clearly going to be Movsar.”
Volkanovski outpointed Lopes in January to retain the featherweight title, nine months after beating him in the same manner.
“Everyone knows I’m a pretty easy champ to understand, and I will fight the best,” continued Volkanovski, 37. “But even if the UFC pushes something, I’m like: ‘Yeah, whatever.’ But it’s gonna come to a point where it’s like, ‘What are we doing here? We’re just wasting my...’
“Without sounding cocky, I’m very confident I beat all these guys: Silva, Lerone Murphy, Movsar, all of them – very confident. People are gonna say, ‘Oh, he’s scared of this guy, scared of that guy.’ It’s ridiculous.
“I look at fighting the best, for one, that’s always gonna come first; then if we talk legacy, I want the undefeated guy that’s beat all the other contenders. I know that beating him is gonna look very good on my resume.
“I’ll be honest with the Silva situation: he’s yet to prove himself. He fought a top guy [Lopes] and lost, a guy that I beat twice quite comfortably [...] People are gonna look back and be like: ‘Why did [I] fight that guy? He was ranked No 6, he had one win [in a row], he didn’t beat any top guys. What’s going on?’”
Volkanovski was referring to Silva’s knockout loss to Lopes in September, from which the Brazilian bounced back with a narrow points win over Arnold Allen in January.
Those results have Silva 6-1 in the UFC, while the 29-year-old’s overall record stands at 17-3. Meanwhile, 32-year-old Evloev is 20-0 overall and 10-0 in the UFC.
Evloev previously outpointed Lopes in 2023, while his last three results have been decision wins over Murphy, Allen and former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.
All three fights were close, with the result against Murphy proving especially contentious. Evloev won 48-46, 48-46, 47-47, having had a point deducted in round four after landing two low blows.
Volkanovski’s current title reign is his second at 145lb. The Aussie previously held the belt from 2019 until 2024, ultimately losing the title to Ilia Topuria via KO. Topuria then gave up the belt last February, and Volkanovski claimed the vacant strap with his first win over Lopes.
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