Alexander
Volkanovski’s coach, Joe Lopez, doesn’t consider Jean Silva
deserving of a title shot yet.
Volkanovski (28-4) has long been calling Movsar
Evloev (20-0) the most deserving featherweight title contender.
Evloev further cemented his position by handing Lerone
Murphy his first career loss at
UFC London earlier this month. Evloev followed it up by calling
out Volkanovski, who verbally accepted without
hesitation.
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However, Silva (17-3), who was in attendance at UFC London, is
jostling for the next title shot against Volkanovski. Known for his
knockout power, Silva deemed Evloev’s majority decision win over
Murphy boring. While “Lord” is trying his best to provoke
Volkanovski to fight him, the champion doesn’t think he deserves
the next title shot over Evloev. Volkanovski’s coach, Lopez,
recently reiterated his fighter’s thoughts. Lopez took a dig at
Silva’s signature celebration of barking like a dog. Lopez says
that barking, or making noise in general, won’t earn Silva a title
shot.
“Jean
Silva or whatever his name is, barking like the little dog that
he is in the background, trying to make a lot of noise to make
himself think he’s the next one,” Lopez told Submission Radio. “But he’s not deserving.
There are still Aljo and guys above him. He’s got to earn his spot.
Don’t think that because you make a lot of noise, you’re going to
get it, because you’re not.”
Nothing on the Ground
Lopez further recalls Silva’s only UFC loss, where he seemed out of
his depth on the ground against Diego
Lopes. Lopez believes Volkanovski will “maul” Silva on the
ground if they fight. While Lopez acknowledges Silva’s power, he
thinks “Lord” is reckless with his hands.
“If you see what Diego did to him on the ground,” Lopez said. “He’s
looking at his corner; this guy is nothing on the ground, just
played with him. For somebody who says he’s got a high-level ground
game, he hasn’t got a high-level ground game. I know if Alex got on
top of him, he’d maul him. He’s a powerful striker; if he catches
you, he’ll catch you. But he is very careless in his
striking.”
Evloev is currently on the second-longest active winning streak on
the
UFC roster with 10 straight wins. Meanwhile, Silva is 6-1 in
the UFC with five finishes.