What’s next for the UFC’s Featherweight Division?
Photo courtesy of mmafighting.com
In the wake of the disappointing main event bout between Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez, where does the featherweight division go from here?
The future of the featherweight division is almost entirely dependent on its current champion, Alexander Volkanovski. The best move for Volkanovski would be to move up in weight class to lightweight and attempt to become a double champ. The only problem with this is that, as things currently stand, there is no champion in the lightweight division. Instead, Islam Makhachev will fight Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 on October 22 for the lightweight belt. So the question is, would Volkanovski potentially wait until 2023 before he fights again?
Volkanovski is a fighter who repeatedly states he would like to stay active. He’s one of the most active champs in the game, having fought three times since last September. So it would be reasonable to think that he would defend his featherweight belt at least once more before he moves up to lightweight. That then draws a secondary question, who would be worthy of a title shot at featherweight? The obvious choice is Rodriguez for a couple of reasons.
First, he is an exciting fighter to watch and has never been finished in the UFC. The second, and more important reason, is that he’s never faced Volkanovski. The No. 1 ranked contender, Max Holloway, is coming off of three straight losses to Volkanovski. The No. 3 ranked contender is Ortega, who has also lost to Volkanovski. Now, the way that the Ortega vs. Rodriguez fight ended means that Rodriguez would have to beat another top contender to earn a title shot. That contender will likely be fourth-ranked Josh Emmett, who is coming off a decision victory over fifth-ranked Calvin Kattar.
So, as far as what is next for the division, expect the next big featherweight bout to feature Rodriguez and Emmett. However, the future of the division long-term rests in the hand of Volkanovski and what he decides is more appealing to him.