Former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski plans to retake the title but is willing to wait.
Volkanovski recently suffered his first defeat and title loss after a four-year reign in the featherweight division. The fighter took a shot at Islam Makhachev in the lightweight division but lost twice. Following his loss, fans are starting to think the fighter should hang up his gloves and retire, but Volk reiterates that he still has some fuel in his tank. Volk plans on getting another shot at the title after Topuria battles Holloway on October 26.
“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.”
Volk has been aching for a rematch and even hinted at it after his defeat, but the promotion had other plans in mind. The former champ insists he is not leaving the division until he gets another title shot chance, and he is pretty intrigued by who he will likely face next.
“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.”
Volk plans on making his remaining days in the cage count. He doesn’t plan on taking more fights until he gets a rematch battle. The fighter plans on attending the UFC 308 match, where Topuria will face Holloway and stand in as a backup fighter.
“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.”
Ilia Topuria, on the other hand, is not too thrilled by Volk’s decision. He warned Volk to take a break from fighting and rest.
“Listen, I don’t know (if that’s a good idea), He wants to get knocked out every year, twice. Maybe someone has to give him good advice. He needs some rest. I’m telling you, he needs some rest. His head, at least.”
