Josh Emmett thrilled about interim title fight with Yair Rodriguez, but focus still on Alexander Volkanovski: “That’s the champion”

UFC featherweight contender Josh Emmett still has his eyes on Alexander Volkanovski.

‘The Fighting Falmer’ has been out of action since his clash with Calvin Kattar in June. After 25 minutes of back-and-forth action, Emmett earned the win by split decision. The decision was a controversial one but moved the featherweight’s win streak to five.

Following the win, the Team Alpha Male product called for a title shot next. Except, there was a big issue with getting a title shot next, the reason being that Alexander Volkanovski is moving up. ‘The Great’ signaled the move was imminent following his win over Max Holloway in July.

Recently, the Australian’s UFC debut was announced for February in Perth. The featherweight champion will face the newly crowned Islam Makhachev for the lightweight gold. Along with that fight announcement came another for UFC 284.

In the co-main event spot, Josh Emmett will face Yair Rodriguez for featherweight interim gold. That news that they were getting a title shot was huge for both men. For his part, Emmett still has his sights set on Alexander Volkanovski, as he noted in an interview with MMAFighting.

Image Credit: Volkanovski’s Twitter

“In my opinion, there’s only one title and that’s the champion [Alexander] Volkanovski,” Emmett said. “He has the title but I feel like this solidifies when I get a big win, then I am next to fight for the title.” (h/t MMAFighting)

He continued, “That’s the goal and that’s still the goal [to fight Volkanovski]. This is just one step closer. We’ve seen interim titles announced three months after the champion just won. So I was thinking the same thing, if Volkanovski were to come back, the soonest would be International Fight Week in July, that would still be a year. Like you just mentioned, he would probably be out a little longer but I know he wants to stay active.”

“He keeps saying things and he continues to deliver. I do believe him. I do believe he’s going to try to fight for the [155-pound] belt, if he does win, I feel like he wants to bounce up and down and keep the division moving. So I do believe him.”

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