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Alexander Volkanovski discussed the featherweight title picture following Diego Lopes' impressive win against Brian Ortega.
At UFC 306, No. 13-ranked Lopes had a massive opportunity to climb the division against number three-ranked Ortega. The Brazilian fan favorite capitalized on the matchup and secured a mostly dominant unanimous decision win.
The official rankings haven't been updated, but Lopes is expected to enter the top five. Therefore, he will have a strong presence in the featherweight title picture following Ilia Topuria's title defense against number two-ranked Max Holloway, which goes down on Oct. 26 in the UFC 308 main event.
Meanwhile, former featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski, who is ranked number two, could also be next in line for a crack at gold. Following UFC 306, Volkanovski posted a video on his YouTube channel and had this to say about the landscape of the 145-pound title picture:
"Lopes is right up there now. I'm guessing he'll be ranked number three. Obviously, my next fight is for the title. Depending what happens, injuries in the Max [Holloway] and Ilia [Topuria] fight, who knows what's going to happen? Could there be an interim with someone like Lopes? You never know. We will see what happens."
Volkanovski continued:
"I want to fight soon. Obviously, my next fight is a title. If they can't do that soon enough and say Max wins, is he gonna go lightweight and do the BMF? Is there going to be an interim fight? I don't know, I haven't had those proper discussions. I'll get back to the UFC and have a proper chat to them. All I know is that my next fight is for the title. Let's find out exactly what happens there."
Watch Alexander Volkanovski discuss the featherweight title picture below:
Does Alexander Volkanovski deserve a featherweight title shot in next fight?
Alexander Volkanovski was once a top pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC. The 35-year-old is ranked number ten, but he's coming off back-to-back knockout losses against Islam Makhachev (lightweight) and Ilia Topuria (featherweight).
Volkanovski deserves respect for being an all-time great featherweight. With that said, it's difficult to argue that he deserves a title shot without securing another win, especially since his loss against Topuria was decisive.
Everything changes if Volkanovski's prediction of an interim featherweight title becomes reality. There aren't two fighters more deserving of the opportunity, so it'll be intriguing to see what happens following Topuria vs Max Holloway.
