“No one wants to see this fight. No one was sitting at home thinking, ‘Hey, do you know what fight I want to run back? ‘Volk’ and Yair.’” Robert Whittaker had already made his stance known regarding the rumored fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez. The last time they fought, ‘The Great’ emerged victorious and claimed the championship belt at UFC 290. After that, he lost two back-to-back fights, only to become the featherweight champion once again. It was like watching a completely new version of Volkanovski at UFC 314. And this new version pushed Rodriguez to ask for a rematch.
Speaking to MMA Junkie, ‘El Pantera’ said, “I also believe Volkanovski is one of the greatest of all time, and he has shown that. He has shown that for many years now, and I am happy to face this new Volkanovski, because he’s also been doing some changes on his diet, you know? And I think he’s motivated. I can’t wait to face him, this new version of himself.” And things became a bit more heated (literally) when Volkanovski dropped a few pictures on Instagram.
The featherweight champion shared three greyscale pictures of himself on Instagram. The pictures showed him as a bulky and ripped mixed martial artist. In the caption, he wrote, “Onward always .” Needless to say, Volkanovski wanted to cement his legacy as a multiple-time champion. And to bring comedy into the scenes, his cooking page commented, “Bro needs a burger.”
But as soon as the Australian shared the pictures, the fighting realm had only one thing to say. And as a matter of fact, the fight fans rejected the idea of Volkanovski fighting Rodriguez once again. Let’s take a look at the comments section and see what the fans had to say.
Fans don’t like the idea of Alexander Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodriguez 2
Most of the fans refused to watch the rematch between the featherweight champion and the #4 featherweight contender. Some even claimed that they’d be content with the highlights if the fight ever materialized. One of the fans commented, “One less ppv buy if yair fight gets announced, I’ll watch the highlights.” Meanwhile, many others pleaded with Volkanovski not to fight the Mexican. One fan wrote, “don’t fight yair plz. fresh match ups .” Another fan added, “Plz do us all a favor and don’t fight Yair wanna see you fight WORTHY contenders to stack onto your legacy.”
Some of the fans even got Volkanovski a new opponent. And that was none other than Movsar Evloev. One of the fans wrote, “Please refuse to fight Yair. The fans want to see you beat Evloev! It’s better legacy .” Another fan weighed in on Evloev’s undefeated record. The comment read, “cmon Volk dont give Yair rematch…ask for evloev and take his 0.” One more fan added, “Fight Mosvar please bro.” Well, Evloev has also expressed his desire to fight the featherweight champion. Taking to X, he offered his gratitude to ‘The Great’ for looking to arrange a bout between the two. He wrote, “I will fight in July and you fight in September, hopefully we both win and we can meet in December.” It’d definitely be interesting to watch the two battle!
On the other hand, one fan reflected on Volkanovski’s post-fight interview after he beat Diego Lopes. The comment read, “ADVERSITY IS A PRIVILEGE.” And a few others claimed that this version of Volkanovski could have defeated Ilia Topuria. The fan wrote, “This version of volk would have won to ilia apturo toptoro .” For the unversed, Topuria and Volkanovski battled each other at UFC 298. It was the bout that made ‘El Matador’ a featherweight champ. And it was also Volkanovski’s second consecutive loss via a KO. Who knows, if he had these muscles back then, we might have had a different result.
But what do you think of Volkanovski’s new looks? Do you think he should fight Evloev instead of Rodriguez next? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
The post Calls Mount Against Yair Rodriguez as Alexander Volkanovski’s Physique Makes UFC World Pitch in Potential Opponents appeared first on EssentiallySports.