UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski has a reputation and date in thoughts for his subsequent struggle. Volkanovski known as out Lerone Murphy after his spotlight reel knockout of Aaron Pico at UFC 319. If Volkanovski has his manner, the struggle will happen this yr.
Murphy considerably elevated his inventory on Saturday. The featherweight contender stopped Pico with a wild spinning again elbow in UFC 319’s co-main occasion. Volkanovski known as out Murphy instantly after the struggle, then elaborated on the callout.
“I feel it is a bit of a no brainer,” Volkanovski mentioned on his YouTube channel on Sunday. “December’s wanting good. There have been earlier dates that most likely would not work for guys who’re combating proper now anyway, so the later dates have been all the time wanting higher for me, and for my future potential opponents. So December’s wanting prefer it may very well be there.”
The UFC hasn’t introduced occasions previous Nov. 22, however historically closes the yr with a pay-per-view at Las Vegas’ T-Cellular Area. Murphy acknowledged Volkanovski’s preliminary callout on the UFC 319 post-fight press convention.
“December can be excellent for me,” Murphy mentioned. “Provides me time to recharge, spend a while with the household, after which work on some bits and get higher and are available again higher. December might be nice to share the Octagon with Volkanovski, one of many featherweight GOATs. Including one other scalp to my already high quality résumé… I’ve had 10 fights within the UFC now, one draw, 9 wins, it is time for a title struggle.”
Murphy’s win bumped him to No. 4 within the UFC official featherweight rankings. Murphy has a strong case for a title shot, however granting it to him would come on the expense of top-ranked contender Movsar Evloev. Volkanovski claimed {that a} struggle with Evloev, who pulled out of combating Pico final month, didn’t materialize regardless of the champion’s effort. In gentle of that and up to date occasions, Volkanovski turned his consideration to Murphy.
“I attempted. I attempted to make that occur. I believed he deserved it, he did deserve it, he had this struggle, after which I am, like, alright, he will have to do that struggle, after which he positively will get it, after which he pulled out, and you understand what the UFC’s like with issues like that… I’ve tried with all of them, nevertheless it seems prefer it’s Lerone Murphy; it makes a lot of sense. So let’s do Lerone Murphy, December, sounds nice.”
Volkanovski returned to the featherweight mountain prime earlier this yr. He defeated Diego Lopes to seize the vacant title after shedding it to Ilia Topuria final yr.
