UFC 266 Fallout: What's Next for Alexander Volkanovski?

     The main event of UFC 266 pitted the reigning UFC featherweight champion Alexander "The Great" Volkanovski against Brian "T-City" Ortega. If you haven't seen the fight yet, I would highly recommend you check it out because accurately describing the full 25 minute fight in words will not do it justice. I can only describe the bout as the closest 50-45 fight I have ever seen. I am not an expert by any means, so I will save the technical analysis for others to detail. Even if you haven't watched the fight, you likely know by now the Volkanovski retained his title via unanimous decision. It was an incredible showing of both skill and heart by the champion as he largely got the better of Ortega for most of the 25 minutes. The third round was Ortega's best chance at a victory when he was able to lock in a tight guillotine choke, which Volkanovski narrowly escaped. There was also a triangle attempt from Ortega later in the round that Volkanovski was able to fend off before pouring on heavy ground and pound that left Ortega laying on the canvas for several seconds before he was able to get to his stool. While we saw a great fight for the belt, MMA never stops, so the natural conversation for both of these men turns to: what's next?

    Normally, I may have considered doing a separate post for each fighter, but Ortega suffered an orbital fracture and is expected to have an extended layoff. Most of the featherweights in the rankings will probably fight at least once if not twice between now and the time Ortega is ready to return, so I don't think that trying to predict where the division will stand and what would make sense for him is really possible. I would like to see Ortega take the time off though. In two of his last 3 fights, he has taken tremendous damage from Volkanovski and in his first UFC title opportunity at UFC 231 in 2018 against Max Holloway. I wish the best of luck to Brian in his recovery and look forward to seeing him return whenever he is ready. 

    What's next for Alexander The Great has recently been made more complicated than I think it really needed to be. This all stems from the fact that the UFC recently announced that Max Holloway vs Yair Rodriguez will be the main event on November 13. I think everyone just assumed that Max had earned a third crack at Volkanovski after he dominated Calvin Kattar in January. Holloway vs Rodriguez was originally booked for July, but Max pulled out with an injury. Rebooking this fight for November takes Max completely off of Volkanovski's timeline. Having them fight next would either put Volkanovski on the shelf for another 6 month layoff, which he has said multiple times that he does not want to do, or it will rush Max back for a quick turnaround. This renders the clear and obvious number one contender unable to fight for the title next and also removes Rodriguez, the number three ranked contender, from the picture even though he was an unlikely candidate for a title shot since he has not fought since 2019. The Korean Zombie, Chan Sung Jung, is the highest ranked fighter left, but I don't think one win over Dan Ige after losing to Ortega previously would be a good selling point for this fight. Zabit Magomedsharipov is no longer in the rankings due to his inactivity and, like I said about Yair, I don't think someone who hasn't fought since 2019 (a win over Calvin Kattar) would just walk into a title fight. The next highest ranked is Calvin Kattar who was hasn't fought since his brutal loss to Holloway in January and definitely needs to get back in the win column before he is in serious consideration. I could go through the entire top 15 like this, but it would be a lot of repeating the same things over and over again. I think Arnold Allen has a lot of potential, but I don't think a win over Sodiq Yusuff is enough to vault him into a title fight and Josh Emmett last fought in June 2020 defeating Shane Burgos, but I don't think that is enough either and I believe Emmett was injured in that fight, leading to his inactivity since. With all of that said, I think there's only one real option for Volkanovski.

    Giga Chikadze. I know I just ruled out The Korean Zombie, Arnold Allen, and Josh Emmett because of level of their last and/or biggest win and Giga's came in his last fight against Edson Barboza, but I just feel like he's different. He's been really aggressive in calling out Holloway and has been pushing hard for a really big fight, of which this would definitely qualify. The way Giga has been dominating along his personality combined with maybe being in the right place at the right time could result in him getting an opportunity. On social media, Henry Cejudo has been vocal about wanting this fight and while I wouldn't get my hopes up, I am intrigued at the possibility of this actually happening. 

    From Volkanovski's perspective? I think Cejudo is the most intriguing option since he would not have to have the long layoff like he would for Max. Fighting Giga comes with a lot of risk, but likely doesn't get a lot of interest from the more casual fan and general public. From my own perspective as a fan? I really just don't want to see Volkanovski put on the shelf again. In a vacuum, I would like to see him fight Max first out of the three, but I don't want to wait another 6 months to see Volkanovski defend his title again. If forced to pick between "Triple C" and Giga, I think seeing him fight Cejudo would be a lot of fun and would probably lean towards him (although I think the odds of it actually happening are by far the lowest). For Giga, I think him testing his skills against one of the top fighters in the division would be good for him. A win over Calvin Kattar or the Korean Zombie would definitely put Giga in the driver's seat for the next title shot without rushing him. Depending on exactly what he wants to do and where he is at with his career, Giga vs Zabit would also be a really fun match-up, but Zabit's status has been up in the air for awhile now. 

    What do I think is most likely? Honestly, I think they probably try to make him wait for the trilogy against Max. If Volkanovski insists on being active and is able to convince the UFC to keep him active, I think Giga is not only the best option, but maybe the only option given Cejudo's rocky relationship with Dana and the UFC brass. This was a lot longer than I anticipated it being, let me know if you guys like the length or if you want shorter posts. If so, what part would you want me to cut out? Most importantly, what do you guys want next for Volk and what do you think will actually happen? Thanks for reading and I look forward to interacting with you all.