Alexander Volkanovski is well and truly back! Amidst a time when former champions like Israel Adesanya and Leon Edwards cannot win a fight to save their lives, it is extremely gratifying to see a UFC legend who still has it. While Diego Lopes put on a hell of resistance, even managing to knock down ‘The Great’ during their UFC 314 featherweight title clash, the Aussie’s toughness and willingness to regain the strap were just too much for the Brazilian dynamo. Moreover, the long hellacious road Volk was on ever since UFC 294 motivated the man from the land down under to give his all. And that’s what he exactly did!

With this win, the Aussie became the only man in UFC history to become a two-time undisputed featherweight champion. In addition, he also smashed the vaunted ‘over 35 curse’. For the unversed, Volkanovski became the only man to win a UFC belt over the age of 35 between the weight classes of 125lbs and 155lbs. There were 17 attempts made before UFC 314 but no one could do it. However, Volk did it and broke the streak decisively. And with this triumph, the MMA world is buzzing with legends and fans showering the Aussie with praise and love.

However, surprisingly, the same cannot be said for former UFC double champ, Henry Cejudo. ‘Triple C’ wasn’t really impressed with ‘Volk’s performance and even felt that the legend had exposed a ‘weakness’ at UFC 314 that could see him lose the title soon. “I wouldn’t necessarily say the main event was banging, honestly. I mean was it a competitive fight? Yeah, I thought the judges got it right– 49-46. I thought maybe Volkanovski lost maybe the fourth, I believe. But other than that, it was clearly Volkanovski, man. I think his jab, dude, Volkanovski’s jab is so underrated, man, his inside leg kicks, his movements,” Cejudo told co-host Kamaru Usman on their ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast.

“I think if there’s one area where I felt like, you know, where he can be exposed is sometimes he loses composure over movement, running a little bit, you know what I mean? Like instead of staying stationary, maybe jump into the clinch a little bit more. But other than that, man, I think 145 pounds is wide open for anybody to become champion. I’m not too sure Volkanovski did look good. But I’m not too sure how long he could reign, you know,” he added.

Indeed, while Volkanovski won a unanimous decision and managed to out-significant-strike Lopes 158-63 by fighting smart in their UFC 314 contest, the fight was actually much closer than the stats would have you believe. And to be honest, Lopes, while incredibly destructive and entertaining, is a bit one-dimensional and tries to catch his opponents with heavy shots, leaving him open to being out-pointed. But that, according to ‘Triple C’ won’t be the case for most of the other top featherweights.

Who is next for Alexander Volkanovski after UFC 314?

Alexander Volkanovski, of course, is coming off two knockout losses in the past two years and the 36-year-old is also getting a bit long in the tooth. And Cejudo suspects that Yair Rodriguez, who looked very good in his unanimous decision victory over Bellator GOAT Patricio Pitbull, or Movsar Evloev would do better against this version of ‘Volk’ than Lopes did.

In fact, Rodriguez and Evloev are the two guys ‘Volk’ himself thinks would be next for him. While Rodriguez has already fought and lost to the Aussie great at UFC 290, that was the pre-twice-knocked-out-in-a-row Volkanovski. Not to mention Evloev is a pretty dangerous matchup for him.

The latter, of course, is undefeated and has a world-class ground game, good enough to beat former bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling. But the thing is that if Volkanovski can beat either of these or maybe even both these men soon, he will be right up there as the featherweight GOAT once again, a status he had lost after being knocked out by Ilia Topuria last year. What do you think about Henry Cejudo’s comments about Alexander Volkanovski after UFC 314?