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Top UFC Featherweight Contender Hints At Fight Coming Soon
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. The UFC featherweight division has ground to a bit of a halt over the past year or so. Excitement for the Alexander Volkanovski - Diego Lopes rematch was tepid, and a decisive second win for Volk ensured that his next opponent would almost certainly come from the winner of Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy.
After Evloev's subsequent win in what was a close fight in London, all signs pointed to him being the one to next face off against the 145-lb champion, potentially as soon as September.
However, there is still a potential spanner in the works. Fan favorite Jean Silva, having beaten Arnold Allen at UFC 324 back in January, implied on X on July 31 that he has signed the contract for his next fight.
Although the pencil & paper emoji sitting next to the lock emoji is far from any official documentation, it certainly would allude to the fact that Silva is set to be fighting at some point over the next couple of months.
Timeline-wise, this could be indicative of a title fight ensuing, as the next numbered card without a headliner is UFC 331 on September 19.
However, many believe that this will feature Arman Tsarukyan rematching Charles Oliveira after their excellent bout at UFC 300, and this time in a 5-round fight for the BMF belt.
So the featherweight belt may well end up being fought on October 3rd at UFC 332 in Salt Lake City, Utah, giving him a full 8-week training camp to prepare.
Alas, it would appear that this ultimately is not the case, as merely 30 minutes after the fight, Murphy posted on X with the same emoji, making it appear at least as if he is the opponent to Silva.
And if this is in fact the matchup, then a Silva win will almost certainly place him next in line for title contention.
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