Alex Volkanovski was such a dominant champion at 145 pounds, matchmakers have agreed to give “The Great” an opportunity to reclaim his crown in his eventual return to action — assuming the 35 year-old Aussie wants to wait for Ilia Topuria to make his first featherweight title defense against Max Holloway at some point later this year.
“I’ve heard Ilia and Max is confirmed so I need to talk with the UFC and see what’s going on,” Volkanovski told Fox Sports Australia. “I’d said I wanted some time off, and the UFC wanted me to take some time off, so if that fight is made I need to be okay with it. I can’t expect the UFC to wait for me. But if they are going to do Ilia and Max, I just hoped it would be earlier because I want to fight this year, I don’t want to wait.”
Volkanovski (26-4) was dethroned by Topuria in the UFC 298 headliner earlier this year in Anaheim, his second straight knockout loss after getting planished by 155-pound titleholder Islam Makhachev in their short-notice rematch atop the UFC 294 pay-per-view (PPV) card last October in Abu Dhabi.
That hasn’t stopped “The Great” from mulling a return to lightweight.
“So if there is no title fight until next year then I need something exciting — maybe Charles Oliveira,” Volkanovski continued. “There are others but I think Michael Chandler will keep waiting for Conor McGregor and I think Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje also want to wait a bit. There is nobody [at featherweight] that excites me, or that I haven’t fought already. And they’ve said my next one there is the title fight.”
Oliveira, 34, is currently unbooked.