Alexander Volkanovski is excited to see how UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev performs in his next title defense.
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“The Great” established himself as the greatest featherweight fighter in UFC history by defending the belt five times, and also moved up to lightweight twice during that span to beat Makhachev in a bid to become a double champion.
Volkanovski, who is on a two-fight losing streak for the first time in his career since suffering a knockout loss to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298, recently spoke with David Adesanya and was asked for his thoughts on the expected rematch between No. 1-ranked world champion Arman Tasulkyan and Makhachev later this year.
“Arman is going to be a tough fight,” Volkanovski said. “So it's going to be another close, tough fight. I think it's going to be a lot of stand-up combat. I think Armand has proven he's capable of knocking people out, and I think Islam is the same, but I think Islam is a little more calculated in the stand-up combat. But I think it's going to be a little more intense… there's going to be striking, there's going to be scrambling, a little bit of everything.”
Following his second win over Volkanovski, Makhachev defended his lightweight title for the third time, defeating Dustin Poirier by submission at UFC 302. Tsarukyan was recently suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, but UFC is apparently still planning a rematch between Tsarukyan and the lightweight champion since their first bout in 2019.
While Volkanovski is eager for a rematch with Topuria, he isn't particularly interested in taking on any other featherweight bouts in the meantime, although the 32-year-old acknowledged there are a few lightweight bouts he'd like to try.
“At lightweight, it’s like, let’s have some fun while we wait. I think they’ll probably do Max. [Holloway] And Ilia, September… If they do and they want me to fight in March or April, I want an exciting fight at lightweight, you know? Charles Oliveira. I called Poirier. [his last fight]… Obviously a fight with him would be big and interesting. There's still history with mutual opponents that we've fought and he used to fight at featherweight.”
Poirier, a former interim UFC lightweight champion, initially hinted at the possibility of retirement following his loss to Makhachev at UFC 302 but has since retracted those comments and seems interested in at least one more big fight inside the Octagon.
Volkanovski previously held the No. 2 spot in the lightweight rankings despite losing a split decision to Tsarukyan at UFC 300, and has previously discussed the idea of facing one of the biggest names in the sport, former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira.
As a long-time holder of the featherweight belt, the Australian certainly deserves a rematch with Topuria, but with all signs pointing to “El Matador” facing “BMF” champion Holloway next, fans can expect to see Volkanovski return to the cage at least once before attempting to reclaim the title.
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