The UFC didn’t roll out the red carpet for a top three featherweight.
Josh Emmett scored the biggest win of his career last month. The Team Alpha Male product moved to 18-2 with a split decision win over Calvin Kattar in the main event of UFC Austin (and earned a Fight of the Night bonus for his efforts).
That victory shot Emmett up the UFC featherweight rankings putting him third behind Brian Ortega and Max Holloway.
Emmett was in attendance for UFC 276 this weekend where he watched Alexander Volkanovski defeat Holloway to retain his UFC featherweight title. Volkanovski has now beaten Holloway three times. He’s also beaten Ortega.
So, with those challengers out the way, if Volkanovski remains at featherweight (and not move up to lightweight as he has suggested) it stands to reason that Emmett would be next in line.
The next man up is usually treated to a little fanfare from the UFC. But that wasn’t the case this weekend. And Emmett, and his mentor Urijah Faber, are livid over it.
“[Emmett] had a really bad experience,” Faber told MMA Junkie. “He was put way back in the seating, not even with the rest of the guys and had to find his way by himself upstairs because they have peons working security that are getting paid minimum wage that are like, ‘Hey, you can’t come this way.’ He’s not a confrontational guy unless you’re paying him to beat someone up. He was really upset that there wasn’t more made of the fact that he’s the guy in line. I’m going to talk to Dana (White) about it and talk to Hunter (Campbell) and let them know that it’s really bullshit.
“(We got) ghosted. It’s really sad and his wife was livid, he was livid and he was just like, ‘What do I have to do to get a little bit of respect?’ So Dana, I hope you see this and understand that it’s Josh’s time.”
“Last night he was like, ‘You know what, F this. I wish they’d just release me. I get no respect,’” Faber continued. “He’s like, ‘I think I’m going to drop down to ’35 and fight [Sean] O’Malley cause that’s who’s getting all the credit.’ I’m like, ‘First off, it’s not going to be good for your body to drop all that weight. You’re right there knocking on the door, we just have to make it happen and I’m really sorry you had such a bad experience.’ He literally, if you look at his Instagram posted a picture from the rafters cause he kept getting moved to the MMA basement because of a miscommunication. So that was really frustrating to find out in the aftermath.’”
Faber added that he and Josh are “super disappointed” by everything that happened and that he was expecting Emmett to score a seat in the front row.
“He’s beaten so many guys in dominant fashion, he’s had these major injuries and he needs that fight next, that 145-pound belt. He’s that guy that can match up with Volkanovski, that can pack a punch that puts people out cold with one punch.
“They need to choose to promote him a little bit more. They need to give him the right opportunities and just be present. Josh’s wife said, ‘Look, it’s very apparent where we stand with the UFC. They don’t give a shit about us.’ Which is a shitty feeling.”
Emmett is 18-2 in his pro career (9-2 in the UFC). He debuted in the Octagon in 2016 with a win over Jon Tuck. His two UFC losses are a split decision to Desmond Green in 2017 and a KO loss to Jeremy Stephens in 2018.
Emmett is currently on a five fight winning streak that includes finishes of Michael Johnson and Mirsad Bektic and decisions over Shane Burgos, Dan Ige and Kattar.