Alexander Volkanovski thinks Diego Lopes firmly put himself back in featherweight title contention at UFC Fight Night 259 and isn’t ruling out the chance of a rematch next.
Reigning champ Volkanovski (27-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) regained the belt in an interim title fight with Lopes (27-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) at UFC 314 in April. He’s been waiting for his next assignment since, with multiple notable results happening at 145 pounds in the months since.
One of those went the way of Lopes on Saturday at Noche UFC when he scored a spectacular second-round TKO of Jean Silva in San Antonio, Texas, which led to two bonuses for $100,000. Lopes said he wants another chance at gold, but admitted he might need one more win to get there.
Volkanovski said it’s entirely possible that might not be the case. He sees multiple viable names in play and said Lopes is one of them.
“Incredible performance from Diego. What is next? A lot of people are going to ask me who is next. I figured UFC were waiting to see what happened with Jean Silva and Diego,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “I know Lerone Murphy’s obviously one guy that’s coming off a big KO against (Aaron) Pico. I obviously said to that one, ‘See you later.’ But then we’re waiting around, so I’m guessing we’re waiting around to see what happened in this fight. I don’t know.
“Does Diego get a rematch? Crazy win like that, a wild fashion again doing what he always does. I know the UFC absolutely love him. Whether the UFC push for him, we’ll see what happens. Either way, you guys know me. Whoever it is, it is. I’ll just sit back and see what the UFC says. Obviously I just fought Diego. Does it make sense to just rematch straight away? You never know what the UFC wants. Lerone Murphy is there. Let’s see what happens, eh? I should get some information on that very soon.”
Volkanovski, 36, is looking to make the first defense of his second title reign before the end of the year. He said he will not turn down any opponent presented to him and thinks there’s a legitimate four-way race in play, with each potential opponent having an argument in their favor.
“December is where we’re looking – we’ll see what happens,” Volkanovski said. “Who is it going to be? There’s Lerone Murphy, Aljamain Sterling, Diego Lopes. I think that’s the three. Obviously Movsar (Evloev). Let’s see what happens.”
