According to reports this evening, an undisputed featherweight championship rematch between Alexander Volkanovski, and former interim gold holder, Yair Rodriguez is currently on the UFC’s radar — for the next championship outing at 145lbs.
Volkanovski, who reclaimed the championship last month at UFC 314, did so in impressive fashion in a one-sided unanimous decision win over surging contender, Diego Lopes in the pair’s vacant title pairing in Miami, Florida.
And on that same card, former interim champion, Rodriguez snapped his losing skid in a unanimous judging win of his own over promotional newcomer, former two-weight Bellator MMA champion, Patricio Pitbull.
Alexander Volkanovski lined up for Yair Rodriguez rematch
And according to Alvaro Colmenero this evening, with Movsar Evloev targeting a summer return in Abu Dhabi, the promotion are now targeting a rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez — to potential headline their Noche card at UFC 320 in September in an outing in Guadalajara, Mexico.
“With Evloev agreeing to another fight, I know for a fact that the featherweight title fight to be Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodriguez,” Colmenero posted on X. “For UFC 320 in Mexico it would be a perfect headliner, but ‘Volk’ will have another daughter in September and they wanted to avoid that date.
“Remember what Joe Lopez said, laughing, a month ago. He already missed the birth of a daughter, and he didn’t want it to happen again,” Colmenero added. “But of course, the other attractive options would already be in November, or rather, December. I think we would go more to the last month of year.”
First fighting during International Fight Week back in 2023, Alexander Volkanovski would continue his first featherweight title reign with an eventual third round knockout win over then-interim champion, Rodriguez to unify the titles.
That victory came as Volkanovski’s final at the featherweight limit, before his decision success over Brazilian fan-favorite, Lopes last month in ‘The Sunshine State’.
