Alexander Volkanovski calls for December title fight with Lerone Murphy after UFC 319: It's 'a no-brainer'

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski has a name and date in mind for his next fight. Volkanovski called out Lerone Murphy after his highlight reel knockout of Aaron Pico at UFC 319. If Volkanovski has his way, the fight will take place this year.

Murphy substantially elevated his stock on Saturday. The featherweight contender stopped Pico with a wild spinning back elbow in UFC 319's co-main event. Volkanovski called out Murphy immediately after the fight, then elaborated on the callout.

"I think it's a bit of a no-brainer," Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel on Sunday. "December's looking good. There were earlier dates that probably wouldn't work for guys who are fighting right now anyway, so the later dates were always looking better for me, and for my future potential opponents. So December's looking like it could be there." 

The UFC hasn't announced events past Nov. 22, but traditionally closes the year with a pay-per-view at Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena. Murphy acknowledged Volkanovski's initial callout at the UFC 319 post-fight press conference.

"December would be perfect for me," Murphy said. "Gives me time to recharge, spend some time with the family, and then work on some bits and get better and come back better. December will be great to share the Octagon with Volkanovski, one of the featherweight GOATs. Adding another scalp to my already quality résumé… I've had 10 fights in the UFC now, one draw, nine wins, it's time for a title fight."

Murphy's win bumped him to No. 4 in the UFC official featherweight rankings. Murphy has a solid case for a title shot, but granting it to him would come at the expense of top-ranked contender Movsar Evloev. Volkanovski claimed that a fight with Evloev, who pulled out of fighting Pico last month, did not materialize despite the champion's effort. In light of that and recent events, Volkanovski turned his attention to Murphy.

"I tried. I tried to make that happen. I thought he deserved it, he did deserve it, he had this fight, and then I'm, like, alright, he's going to have to do this fight, and then he definitely gets it, and then he pulled out, and you know what the UFC's like with things like that... I've tried with all of them, but it looks like it's Lerone Murphy; it makes a lot of sense. So let's do Lerone Murphy, December, sounds great."

Volkanovski returned to the featherweight mountain top earlier this year. He defeated Diego Lopes to capture the vacant title after losing it to Ilia Topuria last year.