UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski believes he’s in his prime, and he’s not going to waste it.
‘The Great’ has been out of action since his victory over Max Holloway in July. Following that victory, he announced his intentions to move to the lightweight division. Those plans were temporarily put on hold as he had to get surgery on an injured hand.
However, the former champion recovered in time to make it to UFC 280 last month. Volkanovski weighed in as the backup fighter for the lightweight title headliner and called for a title shot next. At the end of the pay-per-view, the newly crowned Islam Makhachev called to face the featherweight champion in February. Seemingly granting Volkanovski’s wish.
As of now, the pair is targeted to face off at UFC 284 in Perth next year. While the superfight has excited fans, not everyone is happy with it. The featherweight division, namely contenders such as Yair Rodriguez, have voiced their displeasure with the fight.
However, Alexander Volkanovski doesn’t view the possibility of fighting in two divisions as an issue. During UFC 281 media day, he responded to ‘El Pantera’ and others who are concerned with him moving to 155-pounds.
Putting those fears to bed, Volkanovski revealed that his current goal as of now is to stay active. He doesn’t know how many prime years he has left, and he wants to take full advantage of them.
“There’s a few of them that are just right there, eh?” Volkanovski said at UFC 281 media day. “I think somebody’s gonna be a bit disappointed. There’s definitely that top 3, right? Arnold Allen, Yair Rodriguez, and Josh Emmett. Any one of those guys that misses out on something that happens there is gonna be pretty disappointed. We just gotta see what happens.” (h/t MMA Mania)
“I’ve made it clear that I want to be active and things like that and people keep questioning like, ‘Ah, can you do two divisions?” he continued. “Well, I know for a fact one division can’t keep me busy enough. So, why don’t we focus on that? Let’s be real. I’m willing to do both belts at the same time and I think I can do it because I want to fight every three months. Easy. That’s what I wanna do. I don’t want to wait for this champ-champ, I want to do it now. I’m in the best shape of my life, I’m at my peak right now. I want to take advantage of that and f—k some people up so let’s do it.”
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