UFC Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski spoke of a potential match up with former two-division champion Henry Cejudo at the UFC251 post-fight press conference following his victory over Max Holloway.
“Let’s be realistic fight him, again he’s done great things in his divisions. I’ve got nothing but respect for the man but at the same time me fighting him ain’t helping my legacy, I’ve got number one contender I told you if I want to be the goat I’ve got to take out number one contenders,” said Volkanovski.
“If someone’s gonna cut in front of the line like Cejudo, pay me the money and maybe we can make it happen. You’ve got to make it worthwhile for me because I want that GOAT status, taking Henry Cejudo doesn’t really help that. I believe people are going to know I’m expected to win that, no disrespect to him but you know this is a whole different league up here with these big boys and I’ll show that if that fight was to ever happen I’ll show him to stay in his division.”
After his retirement Cejudo shared that he would be interested in returning to MMA to face Volkanovski for the Featherweight title, telling TMZ that this would be the only fight that would lure him from retirement.
“There would only be one fight that would really bring me back, that would really wake me up in the morning. Other than Ryan Garcia, it would be Alexander Volkanovski, that overgrown midget. I would love to make him bend the knee because he’s already halfway there.”
After this began to circulate, UFC president Dana White shared that he would not be interested in making the match up between the two.
“He’s retired. I just did another interview where people are asking me about other retired guys. These guys are retired. I’m not even thinking about any of those guys. They’re retired. There are so many kids right now that are here, that want to fight. Those are the people that I’m focused on.”