Alexander
Volkanovski says he was expecting Movsar
Evloev to be the next challenger for the title.„It’s pretty clear that it wasn’t gonna be Movsar. I thought he
would be, because he’s undefeated. Yair’s name has popped up, but
no dates are set right now. The rumours you’re all… pic.twitter.com/4IpgchPwPC— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA)
June 5, 2025
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Alexander
Volkanovski recently detailed his next title defense
scenario.
Movsar
Evloev (19-0) is widely considered the next right featherweight
contender, including by Volkanovski. However, the undefeated
Russian recently announced that he will be fighting at
UFC Abu Dhabi on July 26. Volkanovski (27-4) has now confirmed
that Evloev isn’t fighting for the title next.
There have been rumors of ongoing talks for a fight against veteran
contender Yair
Rodriguez (20-5), which Volkanovski says are true. However, the
featherweight champ hasn’t been given a date for his next title
defense, and several things remain to be finalized.
“Pretty clear that it wasn’t going to be Movsar,” Volkanovski told
Main Event TV. “Cause that’s who I thought would be, being
undefeated and the sort of tear that he’s on. But I think they
matched him up, you see him tweet something about that. So he’s
already went out and made that public that he obviously,
unfortunately can’t fight for the title. Yair’s name has popped up.
No dates set right now… The rumors you’re hearing are pretty much
true but nothing’s locked in.”
Volkanovski was dethroned by a knockout loss against Ilia
Topuria, who moved up to lightweight after defending his title
just once against Max
Holloway. Volkanovski went on to win the vacant strap with a
unanimous decision win over Diego Lopes
earlier this year. Evloev has inexplicably been denied a title
shot, with even his fallen foe Lopes skipping the queue ahead of
him. However, the gritty contender is willing to fight whoever is
offered to him until there is no one left. Evloev believes a win in
his next fight will make a title shot undeniable.
“If you are a UFC fighter and believe you are the best in the world
then you have fight every fight they throw at you, no risk no
reward,” Evloev recently wrote on Twitter. “See you guys in July,
it’s ON #AbuDhabi”
Meanwhile, Rodriguez suffered a stoppage loss against Volkanovski
in his first failed gold bid in 2023. “El Pantera” then suffered
another stoppage loss against Brian
Ortega but has since rebounded by foiling former Bellator
MMA champ Patricio
Freire’s UFC debut this past April.