UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski (28-4-0) addressed a possible fight with Jean Silva (17-3), expressing his annoyance that the Brazilian is even being mentioned in the title conversation.
Despite Silva’s presence at UFC London last weekend—where he claimed he was there to sign a title contract—Volkanovski remains unconvinced. While Silva is currently ranked No. 6, Volkanovski pointed out that his recent record includes a TKO loss to Diego Lopes in September 2025.
Silva’s primary claim in 2026 is a unanimous decision victory over Arnold Allen at UFC 324 in January. Volkanovski argues that one win over a top-10 opponent shouldn’t allow a fighter to “cut the line” ahead of undefeated challengers. Following Evloev’s win over Lerone Murphy on March 21, Volkanovski has labeled him the only logical choice.
“I’ll be honest with the Silva situation: He’s yet to prove himself. He fought a top guy and lost – a guy that I beat twice quite comfortably. If I go fight him and beat him, which I’m quite confident I’ll do, then he starts losing to your Movsars and Lerone Murphys, people are going to look back and say, ‘Why did he fight that guy? He was ranked No. 6, he had one win, he didn’t beat any top guys.’
“Who’s going to even remember that? Again, I’ll fight whoever the UFC says. But again, how many times am I just going to fight guys that are undeserving when there is a clear No. 1 guy? I did that enough. The situation now – come on now, this is getting ridiculous. Now you’re making me look like the bad guy for not fighting the No. 1 guy.
“I want the undefeated guy that has beaten all of the other contenders, all of the top guys,” Volkanovski said. “I know if I beat him, it’s going to look very good on my resume because his record and who he has beat. I’m confident he’s going to beat all of the other contenders so it’s going to age well,” Volkanovski said