Alexander Volkanovski Responds to Brian Ortega’s Impressive Win

Alexander Volkanovski made it clear in recent months that he’s ready to move on from the Max Holloway chapeter of his career, at least for now. So, it’s not surprising to see the UFC’s featherweight champ’s looking forward to a new challenge, namely Brian Ortega.

Volkanovski is buzzed to see some “direction”

Ortega threw hands with Chan Sung Jung in the headliner of UFC Fight Island 6 on Saturday, and he out struck the always dangerous, ‘Korean Zombie’, for a clear, decision win. Leading up to the bout, UFC President Dana White said that the winner of the fight would be next for Volkanovski.

Well, following ‘T-City’s’ impressive win, the champ tweeted out this.

“Finally we have some direction in this division,” Volkanovski wrote. “Get in there and take that No. 1 spot. That’s all I wanted!!”

No surprise

So, given how Saturday’s bout between Ortega and Jung played out, Volkanovski’s reaction is no surprise.

Following his second win over Holloway this past July, there were calls for a third bout with ‘Blessed’. That’s because their rematch was more competitive than their 2019 bout, as Volkanovski narrowly got by Holloway with a split decision win.

But, the Australian fighter repeatedly shot down the idea of fighting Holloway for a third time. Case in point, Volkanovski said this to Submission Radio, this past summer (quotes via MMA Fighting).

“It’s pretty clear that like, you win back-to-back, two wins in a row. To make a third one, it just doesn’t really make sense, especially right now.

Again, we know that last fight was close, but the judges gave me the decision, and that’s that.

And in the first fight, even though it was competitive, I pretty clearly won that fight. So, to just give him another rematch straight away and put the division on hold, it just doesn’t make any sense. . .

“It was a close fight, and I understand why people want to see the fight again, but at the same time, I won twice back to back.

So, it just doesn’t really make sense right now. It’s something that it can definitely be a big fight in the future as well.

But for right now, I’ve got a division that I want to hold and I don’t want to keep on hold. So, I want number one contenders, I want some fresh blood in there.

So, we’ll see who that is.”

So, that ‘fresh blood’ is going to be Ortega. Now yes, it is true that Holloway defeated Ortega by TKO (due to doctor stoppage) in their 2018 outing. Further, Ortega hasn’t fought since then.

But, when you consider Ortega’s only loss was to Holloway, and that he’s ranked #2 in the division, handing him a title shot makes sense.

Zabit Magomedsharipov is also clearly in the mix, as he’s never lost in six UFC bouts. But, he has yet to fight in 2020.