Alexander Volkanovski still has his eyes on a second divisional title.
Volkanovski is quite arguably the greatest Featherweight in UFC history. Across two title reigns, he’s defended his belt an impressive six times, defeating the likes of Max Holloway, Jose Aldo, and Diego Lopes throughout his 145-pound career. Unfortunately, his overall resume is still missing Lightweight gold. He came damn close to dethroning Islam Makhachev in his first attempt at UFC 284, but his short-notice second try ended in absolute
disaster.
Now 38 years old, Volkanovski is approaching the end of his professional career even while he holds Featherweight gold. As such, he would like one last opportunity to jump up to Lightweight and challenge the current king, Justin Gaethje. Since “The Highlight” is pondering retirement himself, Volkanovski is even pitching a double retirement fight that could clear the way for two separate divisions.
“Imagine that, do it as a send-off,” Volkanovski told the “Who Da Fook Are These Guys?” podcast (via ESPN). “Gaethje and Volk. I think he’s said that he maybe has one more. That could be a super fight. Let’s do a super fight with the lightweight title on the line. We can both see everyone off with a crazy super fight. That could be really good.”
Volkanovski continued, “He’s said, ‘What’s the point of doing rematches.‘ Let’s do a super fight then [retire] straight after that, let the divisions sort themselves out. The UFC would be happy for that. Let’s make it happen.”
There are, of course, many potential obstacles to the roadmap Volkanovski laid out for a Lightweight super fight. First and foremost, he has to take out Movsar Evloev next week in the main event of UFC 333! The undefeated Russian is a tall task, particularly at the end of an illustrious career.
Then, there’s the simple issue that Gaethje has a ton of options up at 155 pounds. Arman Tsarukyan has been knocking on the door of a title shot for years now, and he’s especially undeniable after his vicious knockout win over Mauricio Ruffy (watch here). In addition, Charles Oliveira is the reigning BMF champion and is riding a sold wave of momentum, while Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria rematches also remain high-profile opponents for the reigning Lightweight kingpin. Volkanovski vs. Gaethje could be a great fight, but I’m not sure it would sell quite as many tickets as other options.
We’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.
