Undisputed featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski has claimed that he is open to the possibility of fighting for a symbolic BMF championship in the future if a lightweight title fight with Islam Makhachev alludes him – particularly against either Dustin Poirier or Justin Gaethje.
Volkanovski, the current featherweight champion, challenged for undisputed lightweight gold back in Feburary at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia – suffering a unanimous decision loss to Makhachev in his first promotional loss.
Slated to return to the Octagon next month during International Fight Week – Volkanovski is set to top UFC 290 in Las Vegas, Nevada, attempting to unify the featherweight titles with interim gold holder, Yair Rodríguez.
And later that month, former interim lightweight champions, Poirier and Gaethje as slated to rematch at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City, Utah – taking headlining honors with symbolic BMF spoils on the line to boot.
Alexander Volkanovski offers to fight for BMF title spoils
And claiming that if his pursuit of a lightweight rematch with Makhachev proves fruitless for the time being, Volkanovski has offered to fight either Poirier and Gaethje for BMF spoils.
“If I had to lean toward someone, I’d lean Dustin Poirier,” Alexander Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “He obviously won the last time they fought, and I’d probably lean towards Dustin. But you can’t tell me Justin Gaethje can’t acth him, you know what i mean? … it’s funny you say that, because I agree with it.”
“At the end of the day, fight anyone, anytime,” Alexander Volkanovski explained. “Who’s the real badasses? The guys that fight injured and consistently like Israel Adesanya, like myself. These guys are bad… 100 percent that’s something I’d love to do. I’ll do it antwhere, any place, any time. … Maybe a BMF belt fight if Islam (Makhachev) his going his thing, and then we can rematch after. Then I can have three belts; featherweight, BMF belt, and that lightweight belt.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)