Alexander Volkanovski is going to await the winner of Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway.
Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) defended his featherweight title five times before getting dethroned by Topuria at UFC 298. He is coming off back-to-back knockout losses to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and Topuria.
āI told them I wanted a break, as Iāve 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 couldāve maybe come back here,ā Volkanovski told Sky Sports New Zealand.
āEverything is probably getting pushed back a couple of months further than I probably wouldāve liked, but at the same time, I canāt be active and just fight anybody, or I can wait for the title. What gets me out of bed, just a contender at featherweight is probably going to be hard.ā
Volkanovski floated the idea of taking a fight at lightweight while Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) defends his title against Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) Oct. 26 in the UFC 308 headliner in Abu Dhabi, but heās now changed his mind. āThe Greatā says the UFC is on board with him getting a title fight in his return and doesnāt want to risk losing his shot.
āYeah, for sure (you can expect me to fight the winner of that fight). Thatās exactly whatās happening,ā Volkanovski said. āI can wait, or if I donāt want to wait, I can do something else. Or just wait, and the UFC has made it clear, and obviously thatās probably what Iām going to do.
āI couldāve maybe done a lightweight fight. I think thereās a lot of exciting fights there, but the UFC arenāt big fans of floating (between weights). They go, āLook, you want to go to lightweight, youāre going to have to stay there,ā and then I might lose that featherweight title shot. Itās only a couple of months. Iām sure Iāll be fine.ā
Heās getting a title fight coming off 2 KO losses?
Context matters here. 1st one was a 2 week short notice fight against the LW champ. But nice troll post.
Troll post? Fuck you man.
He needs a W first in my opinion.
Volk is one of the best eva, but heās over the mma hill and coming off 2 ko losses.
Hes praying for a Max win
Stipe is getting a title shot off of getting ironed out 3.5 years ago by francisā¦
Itās Dana logic.
Yeah that is also hardly believable
Whatever happened to tune up fights? Let Volk crush a can so the fight can have some hype behind it
Bigfoot smashed Fedor and fucked that up for everyone.
Edit* Bigfoot was good then. Bad example by me.
Remember sweet Pride feeding poor defenseless Japanese pro wrestlers to guys like Wand?
Bring that back.
I donāt understand why champs who lose then take time off get to come back to a title shot. Stipe, Izzy and Volk now. None of them deserve(d) it.
Volk doesnāt deserve a title shot in my eyes but I could understand doing the Ilia fight since Volk dominated that division for so long.
But if Max wins, no one wants to see that fight AGAIN.
Volk will never win a title ever again
Iām of the opposite stance
If Topuria wins then why would anyone want to see him rematch a guy he just KOād.
If Max wins, Volk has a much better chance of winning.
Because he ran through a division and most champs who do that get an immediate rematch
As far as Volk beating Max, I agree he has a better chance but I just donāt care to see that fight again.