Alexander Volkanovski stood his ground and then a few against Yair Rodriguez.
The next featherweight title fight is said to be a rematch between two -time champion Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez during this year's Nachche UFC.
UFC 320 will go on September 13 in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Volkanovski initially called on the undefeated Movsar Evloev to be his next challenger, but Evloev has confirmed that his next fight will not be for the title, so many think it will be the Mexican Rodriguez who gets the tickets in his home country.
Rodriguez returned to the win column on UFC 314, the same night Volkanovski restored the empty title against Diego Lopes. 'El Pantera' defeated the former two-division Bellator champion Patricio Pitbull by the decision to return from back-to-back stop losing to Volkanovski and Brian Ortega.
Volkanovski, against a flashy taekwondo striker in Rodriguez and used all his weapons to set up a vintage version.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty images
Alexander Volkanovski rocked and stopped Yair Rodriguez for a brutal TKO victory on UFC 290
Years before his title fight with Volkanovski, Rodriguez's wrestling game was exposed to former champion Frankie Edgar, who hit his face with land and pound after just one Takedown.
Over three trading rounds on UFC 290 in July 2023, Volkanovski closed the distance with the striker and Rodriguez got down a total of seven times.
Rodriguez found his foot in round 3 when the interim champion was able to land on Volkanovski. Rodriguez's confidence grew when he went for main kicks and he smiled after he had thrown a jumping kick that partially landed.
Rodriguez landed a leg kick that received the attention of Volkanovski and succeeded it with a right hand and another main kick. While Rodriguez went for a body stick, Volkanovski went against with a beautiful right hook to send Rodriguez on the retreat.
Volkanovski pushed forward with bumps to the body before he secured a double pipes handbooks next to the cage. Volkanovski clobbered Rodriguez with dozens of ground and pound shots to win through TKO.
Alexander 'The Great' successfully united the featherweight title after his first lightweight title fight against Islam Makhachev.
UFC 320 Return may not work for Alexander Volkanovski
With Movsar Evloev for the time being from the title photo, all signs seem to point to Volkanovski who fights Rodriguez again.
While UFC 320 in Guadalajara, Mexico is the best choice for the rematch, the date of September 13 can be problematic for Volkanovski, because he and his wife expect the birth of their daughter around the same time.
“With EVLOEV agreement with another fight, I am sure that the featherweight title fight to be Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodriguez,” reported Álvaro Colmenero Friday.
With EVLOEV Agreement with another fight, I am sure that the featherweight title fight for Volkanovski vs. To be yair rodriguez. For UFC 320 in Mexico it would be a perfect headliner, but 'people' will have another daughter in September and they wanted to avoid that date.
– Álvaro Colmenero (@kolmeneromma) 23 May 2025
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“For UFC 320 in Mexico it would be a perfect headliner, but 'people' will have another daughter in September and they wanted to avoid that date.
“He already missed the birth of a daughter, and he didn't want it to happen again. But of course the other attractive options would be in November, or rather, December. I think we would go more to the last month of the year.”