Alexander Volkanovski has no shortage of contenders vying to get the next shot at his featherweight title but Jean Silva is attempting to go above and beyond to get his attention.
Following Volkanovski’s
lopsided win over Diego Lopes at UFC 325, Silva took to Twitter to issue a challenge to the champion with a not-so-subtle threat about doing whatever it takes to dethrone him. If that means traveling to Spain and working with UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria — who knocked out Volkanovski in 2024 — then so be it.
“I know that Volkanovski is asking for [Movsar] Evloev, I don’t know what. He’s asking the guys not to get hurt,” Silva said. “Bro, sorry to inform you if you want to stay good and without getting hurt, I understand you.
“But if you want to fight a guy who hits hard, I’m your guy and I will tell you more. I’m going there to [training] camp with [Ilia] Topuria to break you. I’ll let you know. I’ll warn you, I go there.”
Of course, Silva likely would have been Volkanovski’s opponent on Saturday had he not been knocked out by Lopes when they meet this past September.
Since then, Silva bounced back with a decision victory over Arnold Allen at UFC 324 and he’s obviously hoping that puts him back on Volkanovski’s radar again.
For his part, Volkanovski believes that Silva’s ire is probably motivated by Mauricio Ruffy making a change in training camps to work with the featherweight champion and the fighters in Australia after previously calling the Fighting Nerds home in Brazil.
Of course, Silva is another prominent member of the Fighting Nerds and Volkanovski can’t help but wonder if his new friendship with Ruffy really struck a chord that made him so angry.
“He said that [he would work with Topuria]? OK,” Volkanovski said while reacting to Silva’s comments. “I don’t know. I think he’s a bit upset about the Ruffy thing. I mean I don’t think it was anything more than you’ve got Ruffy, who’s a part of Engage Industries at the moment [and] AP Management, we connected sort of through that. Did a bit of training there and he’s obviously a very good guy. An incredible guy. One of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and obviously just wanted to work with me.
“So I was always going to work with him. I know [Rafael Fiziev], that was tough because I know Rafa as well but I was always going to work with Ruffy. I think Jean Silva took that to heart.”
Ruffy moved to Australia to work with Volkanovski and other fighters from that area after he suffered a submission loss to Benoit Saint Denis this past year. On Saturday, Ruffy returned to the win column with a devastating knockout over Rafael Fiziev.
As much as Volkanovski doesn’t want to get in the middle of friction between friends, he doesn’t see why working with Ruffy seemingly angered Silva so much.
“Supposedly, I don’t know if it’s real that he doesn’t follow Ruffy anymore,” Volkanovski said about Silva. “I don’t know. It shouldn’t be like that. It’s nothing like that. I don’t know why he’s getting so butt hurt about that.”
As much as Silva wants a title shot, he’s unlikely to get his wish, especially with Volkanovski already naming either Movsar Evloev or Lerone Murphy as his ideal next opponent.
Both of those fighters are on longer win streaks and ranked higher in the division but Volkanovski added that he’ll face whoever the UFC throws at him and perhaps this latest beef puts Silva higher on that list of contenders.
