It seems likely that Alexander Volkanovski won’t fight again before the end of the year.
The 35-year-old Australian is confident that he will be next in line to face the winner of the featherweight championship clash between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway that is slated for UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 26. Volkanovski hasn’t competed since relinquishing the 145-pound strap in a second-round knockout loss to Topuria at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. Volkanovski had considered taking a bout at lightweight but appears to have ultimately decided against that option.
“That’s exactly what’s happening. 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,” Volkanovski recently told Sky Sports New Zealand.
“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.”
While Volkanovski intended to have a layoff following his last defeat, the timing of Topuria vs. Holloway altered his plans of potentially getting a title shot before the end of the year. However, he isn’t interested in taking just any fight in the name of staying active.
“I told them I wanted a break, as I’ve been having, so I wanted to fight probably later in the year, and they said they might be doing that [Topuria vs. Holloway], and I thought it would have been a little bit earlier, but it ended up being a date where I was like, I could’ve maybe come back here,” Volkanovski said. “Everything is probably getting pushed back a couple of months further than I probably would’ve liked, but at the same time, I can’t be active and just fight anybody, or I can wait for the title.
“What gets me out of bed, just a contender fight at featherweight?” 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.”
While Volkanovski is 3-0 in his career against Holloway, he believes that the Hawaiian has what it takes to dethrone Topuria.
“Who would I rather fight? 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,” Volkanovski said.
“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.”
