Off the back of his impressive title unification win at UFC 290 earlier this month, now-undisputed featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski has offered his bantamweight champion counterpart, Aljamain Sterling an immediate featherweight title fight – ahead of his expected division swansong at UFC 292 next month.
Headlining UFC 290 last weekend during International Fight Week, Australian technician, Volkanovski stopped then-interim champion, Yair Rodríguez with a late third round series of strikes, retaining the featherweight crown for the fifth consecutive occasion.
Alexander Volkanovski welcomes Aljamain Sterling to challenge him for gold
Linked with both an October lightweight title rematch with Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 in October, as well as a featherweight title defense against the surging Georgian contender, Ilia Topuria next, New South Wales favorite, Volkanovski has also welcomed a title fight with Uniondale native, Sterling next to boot.
“Aljo’s (Aljamain Sterling) in a position where if he gets – how many defenses that’ll be, that’ll be four or five – four defenses I think – if he was to take out Sean O’Malley – and I think that’d be great for his career, that’s definitely another one,” Alexander Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel.
“I think – as I’ve already said, if he does that, he’s paid his dues,” Alexander Volkanovski explained. “He deserves it. So I’ll definitely welcome him to the featherweight [division]. I think he doesn’t need to go through anyone. I think he can go straight to me and let’s see if he takes the loss and stays at 145 (pounds) or takes the loss and tries to go back down to bantamweight.” (Transcribed by MMA News)
Slated to make his own Octagon return at UFC 292 in August, Sterling, the most prolific bantamweight champion in the history of the promotion, holds three consecutive successful title knockbacks.
Headlining the pay-per-view event in Boston, Massachusetts, Sterling takes on the streaking number two ranked challenger, Sean O’Malley.