Lerone Murphy thinks UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is no longer in his prime.
Volkanovski saw his first featherweight title reign come to an end against Ilia Topuria by knockout – his second-straight stoppage loss after rematching Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title. However, "The Great" regained his 145-pound belt by defeating Diego Lopes, then beat him again at UFC 325.
Although Volkanovski (28-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) is back to his winning ways, Murphy (17-1-1 MMA, 9-1-1 UFC) thinks his dominant days are over.
"He's beatable," Murphy said of Volkanovski on Fighters Advice. "Listen, I respect Alex Volkanovski and everything he's done, but everybody's human. Everybody's human. Everyone's got a time, and I think his best years
are behind him. He can still go out there and do a job, don't get me wrong, but I believe his best years are behind him now, and I think it's only a matter of time.
"I think he should have won the title back from Diego, the second fight, and just called it a day there because he's tempting fate now and somebody's going to beat him in the next few fights, 100 percent. There's a lot of dangerous guys in the division at the minute, and the top 10 is frightening. But hat's off to him. Hat's off to him. He's done this for a long while now. He's been the most dominant champion. He's beaten the best guys, so nobody can really knock him."
Volkanovski defends his title against Movsar Evloev (20-0 MMA, 10-0 UFC) in the main event of UFC 333 (Paramount+) on Oct. 24 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Murphy, who was edged out by Evloev in the UFC Fight Night 270 headliner, gave his take on the matchup.
"I don't know," Murphy said. "Movsar is a better fighter than Lopes, but stylistically, can he cause Volkanovski problems? I don't know, but he finds a way to win, so I don't doubt him. I really don't doubt him. But I just think stylistically, Volkanovski should take the win. Just because he's been in there with Makhachev, probably a better version of Evloev, a bigger version of Evloev. But who knows? Who knows? It might bring the best out in Movsar, and I wish them both the best."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Lerone Murphy: Alexander Volkanovski tempting fate, 'best years are behind him'
