Alex Volkanovski’s Coach Is ‘Absolutely Livid’ Over UFC Title Snub

Alex Volkanovski’s coach isn’t happy that his fighter won’t be receiving the next UFC featherweight title shot.

Volkanovski earned the biggest win of his professional mixed martial arts career at UFC 237. He took on Jose Aldo in enemy territory. “The Great” became just the third man under the UFC banner to defeat Aldo and he did so via unanimous decision.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Frankie Edgar will get the next crack at Max Holloway’s UFC featherweight gold on July 27. During an appearance on Submission Radio, Volkanovski’s coach Eugene Bareman made it clear that he isn’t happy with the UFC’s decision (via BJPenn.com):

“Gutted, mate. Absolutely livid. Livid. Livid. Like, we talked about this for such a long time. We talked about it, our team talked about. Our goal was to set this scenario up. And for all our knowledge, this is what the UFC were looking for, this is what they wanted. They needed [Volkanovski] to win that fight, they needed Israel to get into position, and then we’ve got an Australasian super card set up all because of the work that we’ve put in and the position that we’ve put ourselves into. And that was all to get to this goal, to get to that super card. And we were obviously [thinking that] but the UFC was on a different page. We didn’t think so, but yeah, absolutely gutted. Is it not obvious?

“And this has nothing to do with Frankie. I mean, I don’t know Frankie, I don’t know his coaches, I don’t know his management or anything. And it’s not about that Frankie doesn’t deserve it. He probably does deserve it. He just doesn’t deserve it more than Alex Volkanovski deserves it. Unfortunately for Frankie, him and his team advised him to take that risky fight against Brian Ortega. And I fully understand why you gotta do that because you can’t wait around forever, your family has to eat, you have to earn money. But it’s called a risk for a reason.”