5 UFC featherweights who could be a threat to Alexander Volkanovski's title

#2. Zabit Magomedsharipov

Zabit Magomedsharipov is still one of the UFC's most dangerous featherweights

Currently unranked in the UFC due to his lengthy stretch of inactivity, it’s still hard to deny that Zabit Magomedsharipov is easily one of the world’s most dangerous featherweights.

The Dagestani is thus far unbeaten in his UFC career, going 6-0 in the promotion and last defeating Calvin Kattar, who is currently ranked at No.5. That should give newer fans who may not understand the hype around Zabit an idea of how good he is, but he’s the kind of fighter who needs to be seen to be believed.

Magomedsharipov is more than capable of striking with excellent technique, but he’s equally adept at throwing low-percentage shots just like Yair Rodriguez. However, the Dagestani’s real strengths lie on the ground. Zabit is an expert wrestler with phenomenal takedowns and he’s also got a highly venomous submission game. He has submitted three foes in the UFC already.

Currently waiting on the shelf due to some serious health issues, it’s hoped that Magomedsharipov will be able to return to the UFC in 2022. And assuming he hasn’t lost that much during his spell away from competition, he’s definitely one of the biggest threats to UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski.

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#1. Max Holloway - No.1-ranked UFC featherweight

Max Holloway has already lost to Alexander Volkanovski twice, but remains his biggest threat

Alexander Volkanovski might’ve already defeated him twice, taking his UFC featherweight title away from him in the process, but Max Holloway is still probably the biggest threat to ‘The Great’ in the 145-pound division right now.

While ‘Blessed’ came out on the wrong end of judges’ decisions in both of his fights with Volkanovski, there’s no denying that both bouts were razor-close. In the second fight in particular, many fans thought Holloway had done just enough to deserve the nod, even if the judges saw it differently in the end.

But the Hawaiian has not rested on his laurels since. Instead, he returned to the UFC in January and put on one of the best performances of his career, picking apart Calvin Kattar with an even better boxing game than he’d shown before.

And when you add in his top-level experience, his highly dangerous grappling game and the fact that his chin is seemingly made of granite, he’d have every chance of unseating Volkanovski in a third fight. Whether Holloway can get that trilogy bout with the Australian remains to be seen, but if he can beat Yair Rodriguez in their upcoming fight, it’d be hard to deny him.

Basically, despite suffering two losses to him, Max Holloway is still the biggest threat to Alexander Volkanovski in the UFC.