Alexander Volkanovski intends on regaining his status as an active champion now that the featherweight gold is back around his waist.
After winning the belt back at UFC 314 last month, ‘The Great’ made it clear that he wanted to fight again soon with a clear opponent in mind.
Volkanovski’s wish wasn’t granted with Movsar Evloev heading in a different direction, which led many to the assumption that the champion will instead be booked in a rematch for his next outing.
On the same night that a new 145 pound champion was crowned, Yair Rodriguez recorded a near-perfect win over Patricio Pitbull to bounce back from consecutive losses.
The only problem with this potential title fight is that it wasn’t too long ago that Volkanovski beat Rodriguez in convincing fashion, meaning that a rematch isn’t high on many people’s wish lists.
Robert Whittaker claims ‘no one wants to see’ Alexander Volkanovski vs Yair Rodriguez 2
During a recent episode of the MMArcade Podcast, Robert Whittaker gave his reaction to Alexander Volkanovski vs Yair Rodriguez 2 appearing to be the direction that the UFC is heading in.
The promotion is to host its third instalment of Noche UFC in September though the plans to host the event at Arena Guadalajara on September 13 could be set to change.
Though it would make sense for Rodriguez to be a part of this card as one of the biggest Mexican stars on the roster, that doesn’t mean that ‘The Reaper’ is on board with seeing him fight for the title again.
Like many fans, the former UFC middleweight champion isn’t overly interested in watching this one get run back because he doesn’t believe that enough time has passed for there to be a compelling case for a rematch.
Whittaker also isn’t convinced that Rodriguez has made the necessary adjustments from the first fight, having gone 1-1 since his first encounter with Volkanovski at UFC 290 in July of 2023.
“Mate, no one wants to see this fight. No one. No one was sitting at home thinking, ‘Hey, do you know what fight I want to run back? Volk and Yair’. Not yet anyway because Volk did some good honest work in that first fight, okay, and I thought Yair had a lot to work on from that fight.
“I think a lot of it was mental, but that’s how I walked away from that fight. I thought that fight was very one-sided and I thought he had things to work on.”
Robert Whittaker wants to see Yair Rodriguez face Diego Lopes instead
Robert Whittaker also shares the common opinion that there’s a better fight for Yair Rodriguez that should happen next.
During the UFC 314 press conference, tensions flared between Rodriguez and Diego Lopes with the two men clearly having a grudge to settle with one another.
Given that Lopes came up short when fighting for the vacant title, it’s a matchup that makes sense for both men and would seemingly be a perfect fit for the Noche UFC card (UFC 320).
“Now, there was a storyline that whole fight week with him and Diego,” Whittaker said. “I wanted that fight to happen. Tell me that fight couldn’t have headlined UFC Mexico.”