Alexander Volkanovski only has eyes on getting the UFC featherweight title back.
The longtime champion at 145 pounds has been content to sit on the sidelines for much of 2024 following a knockout loss to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 this past February. That defeat ended Volkanovski’s four-year reign atop the division and raised questions as to what would be next for him, given that he has now lost three of his past four fights (including two failed attempts to wrest the lightweight title from Islam Makhachev).
Volkanovski told Sky Sports New Zealand that he’s confident waiting for a chance to fight the winner of Topuria’s Oct. 26 title defense against Max Holloway at UFC 308 is the right move.
“That’s exactly what’s happening,” Volkanovski said. “So I can wait or if I don’t want to wait, I can do something else. Or just wait, and the UFC has made that clear. Obviously, that’s probably what I’m going to do.
“I could have maybe done a lightweight fight, I think there’s a lot of exciting fights there, but the UFC aren’t big fans of floating. Look, you want to go to lightweight, you’re going to have to probably stay there, that’s the only thing, and then I might lose that featherweight title shot. So I might just have to wait. It’s only a couple of months, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Though Volkanovski was defeated twice by Makhachev, their first encounter at UFC 284 was a thrilling five-round encounter that Makhachev edged out on the scorecards. Even if Volkanovski could likely book any number of marquee matchups at 155 pounds, he’s not leaving the featherweight division without one more title fight.
So does he expect to rematch Ilia, or face Holloway a fourh time after earning three previous victories over “Blessed?”
“Who would I rather fight?” Volkanovski said. “Obviously, Ilia’s got that one over me. I want that back. But at the end of the day, I want that belt back as well.
“And who do I think is going to win? Probably Max. But again, it’s a tough fight. Ilia’s got some hands on him, he’s not easily shook, he’s going to come forward, he’s going to be looking for the finish the whole way through that fight, but I think Max is just going to be a little bit too much for Ilia. But if Ilia walks through him, he’s proven himself, but then I’m just going to take it back off him anyway.”
Had Topuria vs. Holloway been booked before the final quarter of 2024, there’s a chance Volkanovski could have fought for the title before the end of the year, but as it stands he’s fine with how events played out. One thing he had made up his mind about is that he wouldn’t settle for fighting just for the sake of fighting.
“I was obviously aware of that [matchup] earlier on,” Volkanovski said. “I told them I wanted the break as I’ve been having, so I wanted to fight probably later in the year and they said they might be doing that. I thought it would have been a little bit earlier, but it ended up being at a date where I was like, ‘Well, I could have maybe come back here.’ But whatever, so everything is probably going to get pushed back a couple of months further than I would have liked, but at the same time I can’t be active and just fight anybody, or I can just wait for the title.”
“What gets me out of bed, just a contender fight at featherweight?” Volkanovski added. “It’s probably going to be hard. Look, I love to be active, but at the same time I need the right fights. It’s easy to be active and get the right fights while you’re champion because you’re defending against the No. 1 contenders. Very, very easy to stay active and have important fights. But me just taking a fight just to stay busy, it just doesn’t make sense.”
