Alexander Volkanovski doubles down on timeframe for next UFC title fight amid Lerone Murphy’s KO win

Alexander Volkanovski wants to give Lerone Murphy a crack at UFC gold before 2025 is out.

Volkanovski was paying close attention to the UFC 319 co-main event. On the card, Murphy took on Aaron Pico, who was making his UFC debut. Murphy shut the lights off Pico with a spinning back elbow. It was a statement-making win, and one that Murphy feels should secure him a UFC Featherweight Championship opportunity. Volkanovski, who is the current titleholder, agrees.

Taking to his YouTube channel, “The Great” revealed his target month for the potential fight (via MMAFighting).

“I think it’s a bit of a no-brainer,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “December’s looking good. There were earlier dates that probably wouldn’t work for guys that are fighting right now anyway, so the later dates were always looking better for me anyway and for my future potential opponents. So December’s looking like it could be there.”

You likely aren’t going to get an argument from UFC CEO Dana White, who told reporters that he likes the idea of Volkanovski vs. Murphy. The only question is, does the UFC brass agree with the December timeframe?

Regardless, Volkanovski knows that the long-awaited clash with a different contender, Movsar Evloev, seems like a lost cause for now.

“A lot of people are going to be, like, ‘Movsar should be there,’” Volkanovski said. “I tried. I tried to make that happen. I thought he deserves it, he did deserve it, he had this fight and then I’m, like, alright, he’s going to have to do this fight and then he definitely gets it and then he pulled out and you know what the UFC’s like with things like that. Maybe they tried to push it back because they pushed the date further and he still didn’t do it. Maybe it was a serious injury, I’m not sure, I don’t know what it is. Maybe that’s why he can’t fight, I don’t know, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be Movsar.”

BJPenn.com will keep you updated on the latest news regarding Alexander Volkanovski’s next title defense.