Alexander Volkanovski

Conor McGregor hasn't been an elite fighter in years, but he could still get a title bout with featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski showing interest in a matchup with the superstar.

"It's always going to be a big fight, there's always going to be money, there's going to be a circus, it's going to be entertaining, it's going to be fun, I'll enjoy that whole f--king thing," Volkanovski told TMZ Sports. 

McGregor is just 1-3 in MMA matches since 2016 and is coming off back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier. Volkanovski, meanwhile, continues to rise with 11 straight wins since joining UFC and 21 straight overall. He is currently the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in UFC behind only Kamaru Usman.

Even with his success, the Australian wants to prove himself against someone he called a "legend of the division."

The 145-pound Volkanovski has already beaten several former champions, including Max Holloway and Jose Aldo. A win over McGregor, a former two-division champion who was once considered one of the best fighters in the world, would be another impressive victory on his resume.

The fact McGregor is always a major commercial draw only adds to the appeal for a potential pay-per-view bout.

His public persona may be a bad dad joke crossed with an ayahuasca retreat, but Henry Cejudo's status as a living UFC legend is beyond question. Even with all that excruciatingly corny and often tasteless trash talk—he himself has acknowledged his moniker as the King of Cringe—his return to competition after a two-year retirement opens up several exciting matchmaking possibilities.

The Olympic wrestling gold medalist could make instant waves at flyweight or bantamweight, the two divisions he once ruled as champion, including an eight-month stint when he owned the two UFC belts simultaneously, making him one of only four fighters to do so. 

He clearly has the competitive itch again, and at age 35 is going after the biggest possible fights. In so doing, he's plotting a course for uncharted waters. After last week's UFC 273, Cejudo (16-2) once again called out 145-pound champion Alex Volkanovski, and it seems Volkanovski is at least not hostile to the idea. It would be the first time Cejudo has competed at more than 135 pounds.

And there's one Cejudo target that's even higher up the scale. We'll get to that shortly.

There are plenty of options on the table, and we've ranked our top five in ascending order. Keep in mind that Cejudo has only re-entered the USADA testing pool, not the UFC proper. There's no reason to think the process won't go smoothly, as he's never failed a drug test, but barring a Brock Lesnar situation Cejudo will  have to get through six months of testing before he can return to the ring.

But as we are about to see, this could be a good thing. A very good thing indeed.

Here's our list, starting with the least likely and/or desired and moving to the top of the heap.

       

5. Conor McGregor

Tongues firmly in cheek on this one, but it still feels worth a mention. Such is the case whenever the pixie-dusted Irishman is involved.

The funny part is that Cejudo himself proposed this bout all the way up at lightweight, so it's not just something I'm throwing into the ether. 

No cringe. Just straight talk. I've entered the USADA pool.

I know I could beat @alexvolkanovski. I want to become the 1st 3-division champion in UFC history. Or, he could shut up the cringe. It would be a treat for fans.

Either way, the 👑is back! https://t.co/s0CfnTvFOo pic.twitter.com/lsDpJMnSC8

— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) April 11, 2022

These two have exchanged words on social media. McGregor isn't hard to find there, but it's interesting that McGregor responded the way he did, calling him—among other things—a "fat little novice" in a since-deleted tweet. In other words, McGregor is responding to Cejudo as if Cejudo is someone he might want to fight.  

Last I checked, social-media chatter doesn't constitute a binding legal contract, but it's not meaningless, either. Both of these guys are keen to be at the center of the spectacle, and a matchup between two double-champs is a surefire blockbuster, a classic striker-grappler matchup under the very brightest lights.

      

4. Deiveson Figueiredo

The student could become the teacher in this flyweight title bout.

Figueiredo's ongoing rivalry with Brandon Moreno is fun and compelling, but variety is the spice of life.

Hey @TheNotoriousMMA let's make a deal. I'll fight you at 155 pounds on one condition-- You have to stay sober. 🍻

If you can do that, I'll agree to measure at 5'4" or under and start the fight on my back. Also Keith Peterson can't ref. Fair?

👑👓: https://t.co/kswHFkeEQS pic.twitter.com/EQ3RLRZDV4

— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) March 29, 2022

Cejudo, who has coached and cornered Figueiredo, would be a fascinating foil. It certainly wouldn't be the first time that friends and teammates have clashed with compelling results. 

While Cejudo may be loath to cut down to flyweight at age 35, taking the title from the dangerous-in-all-phases Figueiredo would end the debate once and for all over who the greatest flyweight really is. And a bout with Moreno, where there is bad blood, would be an excellent follow-up.

If Cejudo loses to Figueiredo, he has the built-in excuse that he is no longer a good fit for the smallest men's division in the UFC, making this a classic low-risk, high-reward matchup.

       

3. Edson Barboza

Throw out the record books for this featherweight bout. One way or another, this is guaranteed entertainment.

Volkanovski may well be true to his word when he recently said Cejudo should "prove himself" at featherweight before he even entertained the thought of granting him a title shot. And hey, given that Cejudo has never competed at 145 pounds and hasn't competed at all in more than two years, that's a reasonable request.

If Cejudo ends up needing at least one fight to establish himself at 145 pounds, who's a better welcome wagon than one of the most battle-tested and dangerous strikers in the division? Plug-and-play Fight Night main event right here.

Although his standup game isn't super polished, Cejudo can still crack. His speed and conditioning may suffer up at the heavier weight class, and if it does Barboza will be there with lethal leg kicks to slow him down even further.

      

2. Max Holloway/Alexander Volkanovski loser

Notice in his previous comments that Volk didn't completely close the door on a bout at some point, only noting Cejudo had more work to do. So…you're saying there's a chance! 

First things first. The trilogy bout between the second- and third-best featherweights ever (Jose Aldo still tops my board) is simply too important for Cejudo to jump it in line. Both Holloway-Volkanovski fights have been so close that a third matchup is a no-brainer even though Volkanovski won both bouts to date.

But here's where that six-month waiting period could pay dividends. Although the third Volk-Holloway hasn't been formally announced yet, it stands to reason that it could be complete six months from now, allowing Cejudo to conveniently slide into the as the next opponent.

It makes sense to me that Cejudo would face the loser here. It would still be a huge matchup, with a win establishing Cejudo as title-shot worthy at 145 pounds. If he wins, whoever's holding the belt would have all the justification they need to take on the King of Cringe.

It's hard to know how Cejudo might deal with Volkanovski's speed and exhausting physical and mental pressure, or with Holloway and some of the best MMA boxing the world has ever seen. He'd be undersized either way—Cejudo is 5'4" compared with the 5'6" Volkanovski or the 5'11" Holloway—but that wrestling of his could be a great equalizer.

      

1. Aljamain Sterling/TJ Dillashaw winner 

The six-month waiting period again makes perfect sense here, and for the same reason. Only this time, Cejudo could get the winner.

Sterling-Dillashaw isn't signed yet, but you might as well mark it down. UFC president Dana White has said Dillashaw-Sterling is the fight to make, as opposed to a rematch of Sterling and Petr Yan. 

Bantamweight is the Goldilocks weight class for Cejudo. It was the last title he held before retiring, and he defeated the great former champ Dominick Cruz in his final bout.

Imagine the ground scrambles with Sterling; could Sterling take his back? Could Cejudo stave off that body triangle? Could Cejudo control and work ground-and-pound on the more dynamic athlete in Sterling?

What about Dillashaw? Could Cejudo really KO Dillashaw a second time? It seems unlikely given Dillashaw's outstanding stand-up game, but Dillashaw is coming back from a yearlong layoff of his own.

Whether it's against Sterling or Dillashaw, this potential Cejudo matchup is the most exciting and sensible bout for all parties involved, including the fans.

Alexander Volkanovski defended his featherweight title and earned an extra $50,000 bonus for Performance of the Night at UFC 273, per MMA Fighting.

Volkanovski earned a fourth-round knockout over Chan Sung Jung in the only stoppage among the five bouts on the main card. He improved to 24-1 in his career, including 11 straight wins in UFC.

Aleksei Oleinik won the other Performance of the Night bonus with his first-round submission of Jared Vanderaa.

The Fight of the Night bonus went to Khamzat Chimaev and Gilbert Burns after their three-round battle:

CHIMAEV SURVIVES TO STAY UNDEFEATED 😤 #UFC273pic.twitter.com/CyLFRAq8b0

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 10, 2022

Chimaev was the winner by unanimous decision, but both competitors left it all on the mat during a thrilling battle.

It was the 11th straight win for Chimaev to begin his professional career, earning a bonus in each of his last five fights since joining UFC.

Sometimes life doesn't deviate from the script. Sometimes the favorite cashes. Sometimes "on paper" becomes "in real life" with nary the batting of an eyelash.

Because sometimes you have a fighter like Alex Volkanovski.

Whenever you see the UFC featherweight champion compete, you're seeing the best version of himself. You're getting something steady and thoughtfully crafted. You're getting predictable excellence, a complete physical and mental product.

The main event at UFC 273, which went down Saturday from Jacksonville, Florida, was just the latest case in point. Volkanovski defended his 145-pound title for the third consecutive time with a dominating, semi-disturbing dismantling of a supremely tough but gravely overmatched Korean Zombie (government name Chan Sung Jung). The official result was a rare standing TKO at 45 seconds of the fourth round.

"I said all this week that I was on another level," Volkanovski told broadcaster and podcaster Joe Rogan in the cage after the fight. "I can't be stopped, and I just showed...it's just drive. The drive to be better."

How good is he really? Volkanovski is third on the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings and could be No. 2. And there's always some flutter of discussion about Volkanovski being the best featherweight in MMA history. 

"He's better than he's ever been," Rogan observed after Saturday's fight. "And he was already the best." 

I'm gonna stop you right there, Joe. Even after another master class like this one, Volkanovski is still only second fiddle. It's a good string section, but for the foreseeable future, he's second-best nonetheless. But let's get back to that.

On Saturday, Volkanovski spent the opening minutes of Round 1 working behind a jab so fast you could hear it before you saw it. Zombie tried to trade, but it was immediately clear he'd brought a rubber hose to a jousting match. His face was soon tenderized. Leg kicks were of course a factor. The champ was just piecing him up, in other words, even as he carefully conserved energy for subsequent rounds.

It was much the same in the second, with Zombie looking flat-footed and lunging after Volkanovski with his hands low, getting either nothing or tagged for the effort. Volkanovski opened up a bit and hit two takedowns. Zombie landed, but there just was no zip on his side of the table. 

Volk is dominating TKZ
😤 #UFC273 pic.twitter.com/omweZLtL0W

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 10, 2022

In the third, Zombie eventually found a home for the uppercut, but Volkanovski took the hit and went right back to work. Zombie's takedown defense, honed by a fight camp spent with wrestling/UFC all-timer Henry Cejudo, was in evidence. But the champ simply wouldn't allow any one thing to slow him down. Zombie never quite knew what was coming, thanks to the champ's constant feints and the unpredictability of his combination sequencing.

At the end of the third, a huge combination dropped Zombie and led to ground strikes. Referee Herb Dean would have had every reason to stop it, but he didn't. And of course, his corner didn't save him. They all asked Zombie, who, being a fighter, let them off the hook by saying he still wanted to fight even though he couldn't find his stool. So the punishment continued.

It didn't last much longer. With his face a single swollen bruise, his eyesight quite possibly compromised and his legs trembling underneath him as if awaiting last call on a midwinter booze cruise, Zombie was brave but doomed. Volkanovski clocked him with one more crushing one-two combination, and still the Zombie didn't fall, and finally Dean swooped in and pulled the champion away from his beaten victim.

Good stoppage from Herb Dean. He saw enough after Volkanovski rocked Zombie again.

That was a mauling. Zombie wasn't competitive in that fight for a minute.

— Luke Thomas🏋️‍♀️ (@lthomasnews) April 10, 2022

According to UFC stats, Volkanovski outlanded Zombie 138-48 in significant strikes. 

"[Zombie] actually took a lot more [punishment] than I wanted him to," Volkanovski told Rogan. "I thought they could have stopped it a bit earlier. I started kind of feeling bad in there, but that's the sport we're in."

There may have been bigger moments on the Volkanovski highlight reel. That third round against Brian Ortega, for instance, when he gutted through two serious choke attempts. His first fight with Max Holloway, where he landed a featherweight-record 75 leg kicks. 

But this was the most emphatic beating, and it was the best version of a champ that was already pretty elite. And yet he still has work to do if he's going to catch Jose Aldo as the featherweight GOAT.

Volkanovski is 24-1, 11-0 in the UFC and 10-0 as a UFC featherweight with the three title defenses. He also of course has a decision win over Aldo.

Nevertheless, Aldo is 31-7, 13-6 in the UFC and 10-4 as a UFC featherweight, but with seven title defenses over two separate title reigns. And that's before we get to the WEC, which was the sport's premier home for lighter-weight fighters back when the UFC's lightest division was lightweight. Aldo notched wins over Cub Swanson, Urijah Faber and current American Top Team coaching mastermind Mike Brown, just to name a few.

So, yes. Volkanovski has work to do. In fact, he himself acknowledged that fact before the fight.

"I believe I've still got more work to do," he said when asked about his GOAT status. "I give Aldo the respect. To be champion for as long as he was is incredible. No matter the opposition that I'm facing with guys like himself and Max, I think I'm fighting absolute killers. …And for him to be for so long, it's saying something."

And there's the mention of Holloway. Although Volkanovski has beaten him twice, both men know there's unfinished business there. Although Volkanovski didn't name any specific name after Saturday's win, he did make mention of the "fight that was originally supposed to be scheduled"—which of course was a third bout with Holloway.

Volkanovski isn't better than Aldo yet. He is better than Holloway. Thankfully for him and all of us, that's something Holloway can do something about. 

In their rematch six months after Volkanovski took Holloway's title, now fighting in front of that eerie 2020 pandemic silence, it was much closer. After Holloway clearly won the first two rounds with damaging shots and better use of range, Volkanovski turned up the workrate round over round until the final moments of a wild, empty-the-tank fifth round. It could not have been much closer, especially in the third and fourth. The champ defended by a 47-48, 48-47, 48-47 split decision.

Recall now that a close loss and a robbery are not the same thing. Their rematch was close, but it didn't rise to the level of injustice. Still, there's certainly an easy case for a trilogy match when you have greats this great and stakes this high. Yet another Volkanovski fight that, if we're lucky, will play out in accordance with its makings.

Volkanovski knows how great he is and how great he can be. Just as he took his time tearing into the Zombie on Saturday night, Volkanovski will take his time climbing the featherweight mountain. He knows exactly where the story is going. We're all just lucky we have good seats.