Alexandre Volkanovski is looking forward to the chance to get things back on track with the UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria.
Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) lost the featherweight title to Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) via second-round knockout in February at UFC 298. Topuria is looking for his first defense of title. against Max Holloway, then wants a stadium fight against Conor McGregor in Spain.
Volkanovski doesn’t think much of Topuria’s bold ambitions and hopes to rematch Topuria if he overcomes Holloway. Volkanovski fought Topuria less than four months after being knocked out by Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 and is confident he will be a much better version in his rematch with Topuria.
“Ilia is a great fighter – let’s see why the next Volkanovski will appear,” said Volkanovski The AllStar. “The real Volkanovski, I guarantee that, and we’ll see if Ilia can handle it. Again, I’m not taking anything away from him, I’m not saying he can’t. He obviously has heavy hands. He obviously has good skills, but I want him to be tested against the best version of me or all the top guys and really prove himself.”
Volkanovski was uncharacteristically tentative against Topuria, but said he won’t make the same mistake if they fight again.
“You won’t see a shy Volk. You will see a Volk who fights his fight,” said Volkanovski. “You want to be put in front of me and put yourself in position to throw bombs, be ready for one to come right at you.”
With Topuria vs. Holloway still without a date set, it could be a long wait for Volkanovski. The former featherweight champion is willing to fight again in the meantime – but only at lightweight.
“You think it’s an exciting fight for me, maybe at lightweight or something, that’s fun, maybe because you don’t want to wait too long,” Volkanovski said. “Maybe we could publicize something, but my next featherweight fight is for the belt. Obviously some people called me, which is a credit to them. …But believe me: I’m not in that position where I need to fight anyone other than the champion.
