Newly crowned featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski had a 2019 year to remember. In May at UFC 237 he defeated Jose Aldo in Brazil. Right after the fight, Volkanovski was in the hospital in Chile with a serious blood infection that swelled up his legs.
Fast forward to UFC 245 just a month ago, he pulled off the upset of the year in a pretty dominant victory over Max ‘Blessed’ Hollaway.
The featherweight division is at an exciting moment with many fighters believing they deserve a title shot. Most fans believe that Max Hollaway deserves an immediate rematch. It’s hard to argue that considering he might be the best featherweight of all time. The ‘Korean Zombie’ Jan Sung Jung believes he should get a title shot but so does Zabit Magomedsharipov. However one man believes that none of these fighters on a hot streak deserve a title shot at all, and that’s Alexander Volkanovski.
Volkanovski suffered a broken hand in the bout against Max Hollaway and is still a few months away from returning to the Octagon. In an interview with Fight News Australia, he wants to see contenders in action and not just talk
“There are many contenders but you have to earn the #1 spot. Go take out someone to climb your way up to be the clear number one spot”.
“I’m the one who fought Aldo in his home country. Not many people would have done that. I’ve done all I could to maintain my position”.
The new featherweight champion wants the next contender to rightfully earn their spot. “Nothing was given to me. I earned my title shot by defeating fighters and maintaining my position. The contenders should fight and call out their next opponent and I’ll be waiting.”
Who do you think deserves a title shot with Volkanovski?