Top UFC featherweight contender Renato Moicano believes Alexander Volkanovski deserves the next crack at champ Max Holloway more than Frankie Edgar.
Renato Moicano believes Alexander Volkanovski deserves the next shot at UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway more than Frankie Edgar, but the top contender isn’t overly upset at the UFC’s booking of Holloway vs. Edgar.
“I think Max and Volkanovski makes more sense, because Volkanovski is coming off a big win,” Moicano told Bloody Elbow. “He beat Chad Mendes; Mendes was a great contender. And Jose Aldo is a legend. So for me, the fight to do is Max and Volkanovski.”
Holloway and Edgar are set to meet at UFC 240 on July 27 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This is the third time the pair have been scheduled. An Edgar injury resulted in the fight being cancelled at UFC 218, and a Holloway injury scrapped it from UFC 222. Brian Ortega replaced Holloway on the latter card and finished Edgar in a non-title bout.
Ever since that fight, there has been this notion that the UFC owes Edgar a title shot, because he was willing to fight Ortega on short notice despite it not being for the title. Edgar has only fought once since the Ortega loss; he defeated Cub Swanson by unanimous decision in an April 2018 rematch.
“I know Frankie Edgar has a lot of history for the UFC,” Moicano said. “He was champion at lightweight. He has a huge fanbase. Everybody loves him; he is a great guy. For me, he is starting to think about retiring, because I think he is getting (to be) 40, I don’t know.
“I saw him talking about something like, ‘UFC has to give me this title shot, because I did so much for the company.’ It’s like a reward to Frankie. I agree with that too, because Frankie Edgar is a great former champion. And it’ll be a great fight.”
Moicano, who is coming off a loss to Jose Aldo in February, meets Chan Sung Jung in the UFC Greenville main event on June 22 in South Carolina.