Aussie UFC star cops bitter blow after historic win
Rising star Alex Volkanovski has reportedly missed out on a title fight after his groundbreaking win over Jose Aldo at UFC 237 on the weekend.
At least for now.
Featherweight UFC champion Max Holloway is set to defend his 145-pound title against Frankie Edgar at UFC 240 in Edmonton, Canada on July 27.
Holloway's last featherweight title defence was a four-round TKO victory over Brian Ortega, but the Hawaiian lost to Dustin Poirier in an interim lightweight title fight at UFC 236 in April.
Edgar most recently earned a three-round decision win over Cub Swanson in April 2018, and has battled injury ever since.
The UFC has attempted to book this fight twice in the past, with injury scuppering both bouts.
According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, the UFC is repaying Edgar's willingness to fight Ortega on short notice in March last year.
If Alex ends up having to fight again before a title shot, I will disagree strongly. But I don’t think that will be the case. Based on talks I’ve had, Edgar’s willingness to risk his title shot against Ortega last year went a long way with the UFC. They haven’t forgotten that.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) May 14, 2019
Edgar, the former lightweight champion, ended up being knocked out by Ortega, which saw his chance to fight for the featherweight belt in December slip away.
It is unclear where the reported bout leaves Volkanovski, who made history on Sunday when he became the first man to defeat Aldo in a non-title fight.
The win was his 17th in a row, and seventh in succession in the UFC.
Volkanovski had seemingly earned the next crack at Holloway.
Speculation circulated that the bout could be on the same card as Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya's middleweight unification bout.
That title fight is expected to headline a UFC pay-per-view in Australia later this year.
“Now, let’s get to business,” Volkanovski said after the fight, suggesting he won’t be happy with the UFC’s booking.
“Hey, I’m next in line (for the title), one hundred per cent. I’m the only one who is undefeated in the top-3 now. I should be ranked No.1.
“Let’s set it up, yeah. I wouldn’t mind being on the same card (as Whittaker-Adesanya) in Australia. That would be a cracker of a card, let’s make it happen.”
Adesanya spoke out in support of his trans-Tasman counterpart following the news of Edgar’s booking:
Me vs Bobby Boy@alexvolkanovski vs Blessed
Sold out stadium in Sydney...
Nothing else makes sense!
Edgar is on a 1 fight win streak and Alex on 7 win streak in the ufc (17 total win streak) and just beat the king of Rio in Rio. Frankie never beat Aldo (twice).
Fax or 📠📠📠?! https://t.co/74NOfbVLnz— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) May 14, 2019
Alexander Volkanovski is 6-0 in the same period and two days ago beat the man who took Edgar apart in 2 title fights. https://t.co/DG54NlfRMx
— Seán Sheehan (@SeanSheehanBA) May 14, 2019
While Okamoto believes Holloway could seek a short turnaround to fight Volkanovski, it is unclear what would happen if Edgar took out the title.
The American, who fought twice in two months last year before injury struck, has entered the cage just seven times over the last four years.
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