The UFC featherweight roster is deep and talented, but what will the next year look like at 145?

Three weeks ago, I wrote that the current featherweight division is the most interesting weight class in the UFC — and after another thrilling event in Jacksonville, Florida, I stand by that.

Alexander Volkanovski (24-1) has elevated himself into must-see TV. He has always been a good fighter, as he has just one loss in a 10-year professional career. But he has reached a new level in his past two performances against Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung. This is a different fighter from even the one who narrowly beat Max Holloway twice in 2019 and 2020.

The division starts with Volkanovski, but it’s fascinating from top to bottom. But questions linger. What’s the biggest challenge for Volkanovski moving forward? Who are the fighters on the rise at 145 pounds? Who in the division would most likely consider moving up in weight? Following this weekend’s main event, let’s take a second to reset the division and what fights we want to see next.

Is Alex Volkanovski already the GOAT at 145 pounds?

I think Alex “The Great” is well on his way to making that case, but he’s not there yet. If anything, he has cast doubt on whether Holloway should be considered the greatest featherweight of all time. It’s a three-horse race among Jose Aldo, Volkanovski and Holloway. Holloway had surpassed Aldo in many people’s minds, but now when you consider his back-to-back losses to Volkanovski, it’s easy to rethink that. They’ve been neck-and-neck through those two fights. Aldo successfully defended his UFC featherweight title seven times and defended it twice before that in the WEC (which was essentially the UFC, under a different name).

Whenever Volkanovski and Holloway square off for the third time, that fight will have a lot to say on this topic. It’s interesting because Volkanovski has beaten Aldo and Holloway, but I don’t think you can call him the greatest just yet because his body of work — or lack of title defenses — lags behind the duo. Aldo has lost to both of them,…