All Alexander Volkanovski knows is that his next fight will be for the featherweight title.
All [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] knows is that his next fight will be for the featherweight title.
Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) awaits the winner of the title fight between champion Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway, which headlines UFC 308 Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi.
[autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag] (26-6 MMA, 5-1 UFC) battered Brian Ortega Saturday at UFC 306, and called for a title shot. With Lopes also vying for the No. 1 contender spot, Volkanovski is willing to fight him – only if it’s for the interim title.
“Lopes – massive win. Both two top dudes. I like both of them, so whoever was going to win, I was going to be happy for,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “Lopes is right up there now. I’m guessing he’ll be ranked (No.) 3.
“Obviously, my next fight is for the title, depending on what happens. Are there injuries in the Max and Ilia fight? Who knows what’s going to happen. Could there be an interim with someone like Lopes? You never know, so we’ll see what happens.”
Volkanovski clarifies that he’s only entertaining an interim title fight with Lopes if the winner of Topuria and Holloway isn’t available to turn around and fight him at a reasonable timeline.
“My next fight is for the title,” Volkanovski said. “But if they can’t do that soon enough, say if Max wins, is he going to go to lightweight and do BMF? Is there going to be an interim fight? I haven’t had them proper discussions, so I’ll get back to the UFC and have a proper chat with them. All I know is that my next fight is for the title.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.
Alexander Volkanovski thinks the only way Merab Dvalishvili will lose to Sean O’Malley is by getting caught.
[autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] thinks the only way [autotag]Merab Dvalishvili[/autotag] loses to UFC bantamweight champion [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] is by getting caught.
Dvalishvili (17-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) challenges O’Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 306 (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) main event at Sphere in Las Vegas.
Volkanovski thinks Dvalishvili’s relentless pace and durability will help him overcome O’Malley’s precision and power.
“Is he (Dvalishvili) going to be open to being hit? Yes, I believe so,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “I think Sean O’Malley’s eye is incredible. His movements are going to make it a little bit hard, but his relentless takedown pressure, or his pressure on takedowns, I think he’s going to eventually get it unless he gets knocked out.
“I don’t care how good your footwork is, you’re not going to keep Merab away from you unless you put his lights out. That’s the only way that you don’t get taken down.”
Volkanovski sees a bit of himself in Dvalishvili. Volkanovski is coming off a knockout loss to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298, but doesn’t see himself ever in a situation where he’d get outclassed throughout a fight. He won Round 1 against Topuria on all three judges’ scorecards before getting caught in Round 2.
“It’s always hard for me to bet against guys like Merab,” Volkanovski said. “I believe he’s like myself and quite a few fighters out there that are just never die attitude, never give up, they’re just constantly there and just grinding, and grinding, and it’s just too much for people.
“Someone like Merab, the only way I see him losing is getting knocked out and that’s how I’ve always seen myself. …Guys like Merab are hard to bet against, but Sean O’Malley’s eye is so good though. I think I’m going to have to go with Merab.”
Chael Sonnen believes Alexander Volkanovski risks tainting his legacy if he competes for the UFC featherweight title next.
[autotag]Chael Sonnen[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] risks harming his legacy if he competes for the UFC featherweight title next.
Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) lost the belt at 145 pounds to Ilia Topuria by knockout at UFC 298 in February – his second straight knockout loss. Volkanovski initially entertained the idea of taking a fight at lightweight next but has opted to wait for the winner of Topuria vs. Max Holloway, which headlines UFC 308 on Oct. 26.
Sonnen disagrees and thinks if Volkanovski fights Charles Oliveira, for example, at lightweight, he has nothing to lose. But if he fails to regain his featherweight title, it will set him back in a big way.
“Volk still wants to come back. Where do we want to put him?” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “I certainly wouldn’t disrespect him, and I don’t believe the UFC would. If he came in and said, ‘I’m a title shot guy, that’s it,’ I believe they would say OK. But he doesn’t want to fight anybody specific. … He just wants the title back. That is a different motivation. I won’t question it. I’m speaking for me, as a fan. I would rather a match, a specific match. You want to know what I want for Volk? I want him at ’55, and I don’t want to talk about titles right now.
“I want to see an awesome match. I want to see Volk and Charles Oliveira at 155 pounds. I also think outcome-wise, I think you land in a higher spot whether you beat Charles or you don’t beat Charles. You go into a championship spot and you get beat, that will never return. That hope and dream is gone forever – forever. There’s not a 36-year-old that is even returning to be given the opportunity. It’s to the point where unless you want to be a gatekeeper of some regard, here’s your walking papers. It would be that severe in a title fight. That would not be the case at 155 vs. Charles.”
Volkanovski’s first fight at lightweight in the octagon was against champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 284. Volkanovski pushed Makhachev to the brink, but ultimately fell short in a close decision loss. He ran things back with Makhachev on short notice at UFC 294, suffering a Round 1 knockout loss.
After speaking with the UFC, Alexander Volkanovski will simply await the winner of Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway at UFC 308.
[autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] is going to await the winner of [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag].
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.
“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 told Sky Sports New Zealand.
“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 at featherweight is probably going to be hard.”
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 he’s now changed his mind. “The Great” says the UFC is on board with him getting a title fight in his return and doesn’t want to risk losing his shot.
“Yeah, for sure (you can expect me to fight the winner of that fight). That’s exactly what’s happening,” Volkanovski said. “I can wait, or if I don’t want to wait, I can do something else. Or just wait, and the UFC has made it clear, and obviously that’s probably what I’m going to do.
“I could’ve maybe done a lightweight fight. I think there’s a lot of exciting fights there, but the UFC aren’t big fans of floating (between weights). They go, ‘Look, you want to go to lightweight, you’re going to have to stay there,’ and then I might lose that featherweight title shot. It’s only a couple of months. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Ilia Topuria thinks it would be a bad career move for Alexander Volkanovski to take the backup role at UFC 308.
[autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] doesn’t think it’s a good idea for [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] to offer his services as the backup fighter for the UFC 308 main event.
After Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) claimed the featherweight title with a second-round knockout at UFC 298 in February, Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) has made it clear he’s coming to get the belt back in any way he can. He’s taken some time off from competition after being stopped by Topuria and Islam Makhachev just four months prior.
In the meantime, the promotion set up a championship bout between Topuria and Max Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) for the Oct. 26 headliner at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Volkanovski is struggling to resist the urge to get back in the octagon and recently revealed he will travel to witness the matchup in person, and would be willing to be the official backup.
“I reckon I’ll be there, you know what I mean?” Volkanovski said during a fan Q&A earlier this month in Australia. “I’m usually hanging around and pestering my managers and the matchmakers. I’m always hanging around. You can’t get rid of me. I’ll be there.”
Topuria said it would ultimately be the UFC’s call as to whether Volkanovski is given the backup designation. But in his opinion, it would be smarter to stick to the plan of taking a break. Topuria thinks Volkanovski truly does need that recovery time.
“Listen, I don’t know (if that’s a good idea),” Topuria said. “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.”
If Topuria emerged victorious from UFC 308, a rematch with Volkanovski is seemingly the most logical move for the division. That’s what Volkanovski said he is expecting. However, he doesn’t think Topuria is the man he’ll be running things back with.
Volkanovski is predicting Holloway to take the strap at UFC 308, and that would set up an ultra-rare situation where Volkanovski is 3-0 in head-to-head matchups with “Blessed,” but would enter the fourth meeting as the challenger.
“Max has obviously proven himself time and time again. I think he’s going to be a hard man to beat,” Volkanovski said. “We want the winner of that fight. If I had to pick it, probably is (Holloway), so I think we might have to go a damn fourth time. So we’ll see how that goes. BMF is going to be on the line this time, too, so that’s going to keep things interesting.”
Topuria is unsurprisingly dismissive of Volkanovski’s analysis and has boldly predicted the belt will be staying with him after he becomes the first to knock out Holloway.
If, for any reason, the Hawaiian can’t make it to fight night, though, and Volkanovski is tabbed as the backup or replacement, then Topuria said he won’t hesitate to accept the switch.
“My business and my job is to fight, no matter who is in front of me,” Topuria said. “I’m the world champion. I had my preferences before that I wanted to fight people who was next to me in the rankings, to get my chance to fight for the title as soon as possible. But now, when I’m the world champion, I don’t care. Give me a name. Give me a place. I’m going to give you a masterpiece of mixed martial arts.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
Alexander Volkanovski predicts an emphatic performance from Israel Adesanya at UFC 305.
[autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] predicts an emphatic performance from [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] at UFC 305.
Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) challenges middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in Saturday’s main event (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.
Adesanya will look to become a three-time UFC middleweight champion. After five title defenses in his first reign, “The Stylebender” lost his title to Alex Pereira at UFC 281. He was then able to avenge his loss to Pereira with arguably his greatest career-knockout at UFC 287.
However, Adesanya would then lose his belt to Sean Strickland at UFC 293, and proceeded to take a hiatus after. In the meantime, Du Plessis claimed the title from Strickland at UFC 297, setting up his grudge match with Adesanya.
“I’m expecting a performance from Israel Adesanya, like a proper performance like you’ve seen in the Paulo Costa performance where he goes out and just does it in impressive fashion – only because I think he’s always going to have them skills.,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel.
“Dricus is very awkward, very unorthodox. He’s got awkward pressure, which is very, very hard for people to deal with, and we’ve seen awkward pressure from Strickland give Izzy problems. But that doesn’t happen to Izzy twice. There’s no way that fight looks the same.”
Volkanovski sees his City Kickboxing teammate coming back with a vengeance. Adesanya has never lost two straight.
“I think Israel Adesanya is going to put on that type of performance where he gets a crazy finish, and that’s saying something because Dricus is no joke,” Volkanovski said. “Dricus is very strong, wrestler, grappler, so Izzy is going to have to be careful of Dricus trying to take him down because I reckon he’s going to have that freakish strength, and he’s got good D’Arce (chokes) and good (other) chokes as well.
“So you’re going to have to be careful. … I feel like something big is coming – I mean, a big finish. I mean highlight-reel Izzy that we’ve seen. That type of finish that we’re going to see from Izzy, which is going to be huge, which just puts him – obviously he’s always been a superstar, just puts him right back where he was not that long ago.”
On “Spinning Back Clique,” Our panel takes a look at the UFC’s featherweight division and its potentially lengthy standstill at the top.
The UFC’s featherweight division consistently has been one of its strongest.
That didn’t change when [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] beat [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] to win the title. But even though there was new blood at the top, and new blood coming up at the prospect level like [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag], there seems to be a standstill in the division.
Volkanovski doesn’t plan on fighting again at 145 unless it’s for the belt. Topuria seems to want to wait to fight in Spain, or at the very least thinks former champ [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] earned a shot with his BMF win … at lightweight.
So how do we make sense of things in perhaps the strongest division in the UFC, but the one with so little potential for movement up top in the near future?
MMA Junkie’s Brian “Goze” Garcia, Matthew Wells and Nolan King break it down with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia. Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below on YouTube or in podcast form.
Alexander Volkanovski ponders a return to lightweight while waiting for his featherweight title shot.
[autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] ponders a return to lightweight while waiting for his featherweight title shot.
Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) lost his featherweight title to Ilia Topuria by knockout at UFC 298. The former five-time defending champion has been urged to take some time off after back-to-back knockout losses to Islam Makhachev and Topuria, so he won’t be getting the immediate rematch he desired.
Instead, Topuria is expected to make his first title defense against Max Holloway later in the year, and Volkanovski would like to stay busy – at lightweight.
“For me right now, what excites me?” Volkanovski said on FREESTYLEBENDER. “The things that excite me in featherweight, it’s just the belt – obviously the rematch and the belt? That’s big. I’m still that competitor where, ‘All right, this is my division. I’m getting it back. I want that win back’ – things like that. So it’s going to be there. But then at lightweight, let’s have some fun while we’re waiting. I think they’re probably going to do Max and Ilia September,
“I told the UFC I didn’t want to fight till later in the year. I really committed to that in my head. Now I’ve started training, I’m like, ‘I wish I didn’t tell them that.’ So I did that, but that’s fair. I did say, ‘Look, I don’t want to wait too long, either.’ I’m in a position now where if they do that and they want me to fight bloody in March or something, or April, I was like, ‘Oh, well, all right, I’m going to fight a lightweight. Give me exciting fights.'”
Volkanovski challenged lightweight champion Makhachev twice, but fell short in both opportunities. Two particular names stand out as desired fights for Volkanovski at 155 pounds.
“I want an exciting fighter like a Charles Oliveira,” Volkanovski said. “I did call out (Dustin) Poirier after that. He’s a great dude. We get along. I think he’s a good man and he’s obviously a big, fun fight. There’s still history there with mutual opponents. He used to fight at featherweight, things like that, and obviously a big name – fun fight, that would be. So that’s exciting.
“Charles Oliveira, there’s a lot of exciting fights that I would love to do while I’m waiting as well. So yeah – just whatever excites me. The belt excites me. Ilia, obviously, rematch excites me. So that’s the main thing in the featherweight. I wouldn’t just fight anyone in featherweight because my next fight’s for the title, and that’s that.”
After his win over Dan Ige at UFC 303, Diego Lopes wants a big fight against Brian Ortega or Alexander Volkanovski.
A big fight. That’s what [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag] wants, and in his humble opinion, that’s what he thinks he deserves.
The rising UFC featherweight is hoping the promotion returns the favor in granting him a fight against [autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag] or former champion [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] at Noche UFC – the event celebrating Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 14 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
It’s a big ask and two highly-coveted matchups at 145 pounds. However, given what Lopes has been through in the past week, he’s hoping that’s what he gets.
“They said I could fight at The Sphere, Dana White said at the press conference and yeah, if they can re-book the fight, that would be great,” Lopes told MMA Junkie in Spanish when asked about another booking against Brian Ortega. “We do have to see how he is health-wise and if he truly wants to return to 145 pounds and go through all that process. UFC would have to talk to him about that, but I already mentioned to the UFC that if it’s not Ortega, we would like a fight against Volkanovski. We want a fight against him.
“He’s another guy that’s in the top five and is not booked and waiting. I think with what we’ve done and the favors we’ve done for the UFC, I think we have a some points with them so we can push for certain fights, fights in the top five. So if it were up to me, Ortega or Volkanovski at The Sphere would be perfect.”
Diego Lopes (25-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC) took a short-notice fight against Brian Ortega for Saturday’s UFC 303 event in Las Vegas. The day of weigh-ins, the promotion asked him if he could take the fight at 155 pounds instead of the contractual 145. Lopes obliged. Then, on the day of the fight, once the card had started, Ortega withdrew due to illness, and the UFC asked Lopes to fight Dan Ige on hours’ notice at 165 pounds. Lopes obliged.
It was a chaotic week for Lopes, but having left as the winner, he is happy with his decisions. However, he admits fighting Ortega would’ve been his ideal scenario.
“I’m not going to lie, it did feel different,” Lopes said. “It didn’t have the same taste that I was expecting all two weeks prior. But at the same time, I think I was still able to show that I’m capable of fighting against the best in the world. We can say that Dan Ige is the gatekeeper of the division. His defeats have only been against ranked fighters. He’s only lost to the guys inside the rankings and all have been decisions and that’s fighting the best.
“People can say whatever they want, ‘Oh, he’s only No. 13 and this and that,’ but people forget that the message Dan Ige sent to Hunter (Campbell) was pretty clear. He was in camp for three months, was going to fight in two weeks, and didn’t have to cut weight. Basically, he went to do sparring, something he does every day. People forget that.”
Alexander Volkanovski thinks Brian Ortega’s experience will help him prevail at UFC 303.
[autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag]’s experience will help him prevail at UFC 303.
Ortega (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) takes on [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag] (24-6 MMA, 3-1 UFC) in Saturday’s co-main event (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Lopes is coming off back-to-back first-round knockouts of Pat Sabatini and Sodiq Yusuff. Volkanovski expects Lopes to land on Ortega but isn’t sure if he’ll be able to put him away. The former featherweight champion also thinks Ortega’s striking is underrated.
“His (Lopes) striking is next level, but Ortega’s chin, you might wear him down, he might get hurt, I don’t know about shutting his lights off,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “I can’t see that happening. … Going from experience and what I’ve seen, he’s got a granite chin.
“I think that might cancel out the big KO punch from Lopes to get Ortega. It’s going to be interesting on the feet. Ortega’s got some pretty good skill on the feet. I think he’s going to want to do more work on the feet. I think he’s going to be working on the striking, and when he chooses to work on his striking, he’s actually got great striking.”
Volkanovski was pushed to the brink by Ortega in their title fight at UFC 266 in 2021. Ortega dropped Volkanovski and caught him in a deep guillotine choke, but Volk managed to battle out of it. He went on to batter Ortega for the unanimous decision win.
Volkanovski sees Ortega vs. Lopes as a guaranteed banger and hopes the fight hits the ground. Ultimately, he’s picking Ortega to get the upset win over the surging Lopes.
“Who am I picking? Lopes is favorite,” Volkanovski said. “Lopes is good, man. This is going to be the first time I might be going against Lopes. Ortega’s durability. It is a three-rounder. Does he do enough damage in the first two rounds to get a decision? Three rounds, man, am I going to go with Lopes? I think on the feet he’s going to land more because he’s going to come aggressive.
“I don’t think he’s going to drop him or knock him out. Could, but like I said, Ortega’s chin is legit. Man, this is a tricky one for me. I can’t pull the trigger on this. This one might ruin the parlays, guys. I’m going to go with the underdog here. I got a lot of respect for Lopes, and I know he’s going to bring it, and I know this is a short-notice fight, three rounds. Stylistically in this situation might favor him a little bit more, but I’m going to go Ortega.”
