UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is tired of not fighting the top contenders and doesn’t want that to continue.
Volkanovski (28-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) is coming off back-to-back title wins over Diego Lopes. That resulted in Movsar Evloev (20-0 MMA, 10-0 UFC) and Lerone Murphy having to fight in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 270 headliner, where Evloev emerged victorious by majority decision.
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While it appears that undefeated Evloev is a no-brainer No. 1 contender, Jean Silva (17-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) claimed that he’s in discussions with the UFC to fight for the title, which doesn’t exactly sit well with the champ.
“Everyone knows what type of champion I am,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “How many times can I just keep not fighting the No. 1 contender? He (Evloev) was already No. 1, just fought No. 3, both of them guys were in front of everyone else pretty much. Diego Lopes is No. 2, but I’ve just fought him twice. So, these are the top two guys, and they had to face each other, and then you did have a winner. It’s obviously clearly going to be Movsar. I’m a pretty easy champ to understand, and I will fight the best.
“Even if UFC pushes someone like (Silva), it would be whatever, but it’s going to come to a point where it’s like, what are we doing here? I’m very confident I beat all these guys: Silva, Lerone Murphy, Movsar, all of them. Obviously Lopes. I look at fighting the best. Then if we talk legacy, who do we want? I want the undefeated guy that’s beat all the top guys because I know that beating him is going to look very good on my resume because of his record and who he’s beat. I’m confident he’s going to keep beating all the other fighters after that, so I know that’s still going to age well.”
‘This is getting ridiculous’
With Silva having just lost to Lopes by TKO last September, Volkanovski thinks the Brazilian has more work to do before getting his shot.
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“I’ll be honest with the Silva situation: He’s yet to prove himself,” Volkanovski said. “He fought a top guy and lost – a guy that I beat twice quite comfortably. If I go fight him and beat him, which I’m quite confident I’ll do, then he starts losing to your Movsars and Lerone Murphys, people are going to look back and say, ‘Why did he fight that guy? He was ranked No. 6, he had one win, he didn’t beat any top guys.’
“Who’s going to even remember that? Again, I’ll fight whoever the UFC says. But again, how many times am I just going to fight guys that are undeserving when there is a clear No. 1 guy? I did that enough. The situation now – come on now, this is getting ridiculous. Now you’re making me look like the bad guy for not fighting the No. 1 guy.”
I want the undefeated guy that has beaten all of the other contenders, all of the top guys,” Volkanovski said. “I know if I beat him, it’s going to look very good on my resume because his record and who he has beat. I’m confident he’s going to beat all of the other contenders so it’s going to age well
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Alexander Volkanovski irked by Jean Silva in UFC title consideration
