Dana White appears to have confirmed that Alexander Volkanovski will be next to fight for the 155lb title after UFC 280.
The UFC featherweight king Volkanovski previously stated that he will be the backup fighter for the UFC 280 main event for the lightweight throne, between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev. Other lightweights competing on the UFC Abu Dhabi fight card were not happy with this news, such as Beneil Dariush. However, UFC president Dana White confirmed Volkanovski will be the backup fighter in case of any issues.
The Australian-born featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski shared on Twitter:
“It’s Official, I’m the backup fighter for the Light Weight title! See you all in Abu Dhabi 
#UFC280.”
It’s Official, I’m the back up fighter for the Light Weight title!
See you all in Abu Dhabi#UFC280https://t.co/KkRCv1N04Y
— Alex Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) October 10, 2022
Alexander ‘The Great’ has cleared out most of the top contenders at featherweight including impressive wins over ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung, Brian Ortega, and Max Holloway. The 34-year-old athlete has been wanting to challenge for UFC gold at lightweight for some time now. On fighting for the lightweight title, he told Ariel Helwani:
“The UFC would be very happy to have me headline a card [in Australia]. That’s probably what will happen. Me fighting for the lightweight title in that early quarter of the year.”
Top-ranked lightweight Beneil Dariush will meet Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 280 and was told that he, in fact, was the main event backup by his manager. While in an interview on Sirius XM, Dariush said:
“‘Honestly, I’m confused. I don’t know if he’s playing games or the UFC is playing games, because I was told I’m the fill-in. That’s the whole point of having another lightweight fight on that card, just in case something goes wrong, so I don’t understand what’s going on here. I’m trying to get to the bottom of it, but ultimately I have one goal and that’s Gamrot. But I really thought I was the fill-in, that’s what I was told.”
UFC President Dana White on Alexander Volkanovski UFC 280 backup
While speaking in an interview with My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox, Dana White was asked if it made sense for Volkanovski to fight for the lightweight belt next. All he said on the matter was:
“Well, it makes sense. It makes sense.”
When asked about the lightweight contest between Dariush and Gamrot already being booked on this card at lightweight, and how great of a fight that is, White added:
“100 percent.”
See the full interview with Dana White below. The referenced exchange begins at 2:12.