Alexander
Volkanovski is not ruling out a double-champ bid for the third
time in his
UFC career.
Justin
Gaethje (28-5) recently dethroned Ilia
Topuria in a massive upset to win the undisputed lightweight in
his third attempt. Volkanovski (28-4) admits that he is open to
moving up to lightweight to challenge Gaethje for the title.
However, the UFC featherweight champion is not sure if he is
currently in a position to call for a lightweight title shot.
Volkanovski notes that he had defended the featherweight title four
times in his first stint before calling for a lightweight title
shot against Islam
Makhachev. Volkanovski also admits that Arman
Tsarukyan should ideally get the next title shot at
lightweight. However, “The Great” also notes that Tsarukyan has not
exactly been a company man.
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‘I’m Not Going to Call for It’
“Of course, I’ll do it,” Volkanovski said on YouTube. “I’m going to
call it when I I feel like I deserve it, and you’ve seen when I was
defending my belt five times before I asked for the double champ,
and then had the fight with Islam. Like that’s just how it is… So,
I’m not going to call for it. That’s the type of champion I am. I
think you need to earn it. But if the UFC was to offer it, of
course, see two 38-year-old fellas go at it in the lightweight
division? 100%. Of course I would. But, Arman should be next. But
when you’re not doing what the the UFC wants and you’re not, you
know, being a company man, you can be punished for it. So we’ll see
what happens.”
Volkanovski gave Makhachev one of the toughest tests of his career
while making his first unsuccessful double-champ bid in 2023. The
Australian subsequently defended his featherweight title one more
time before making another short-notice double-champ bid against
Makhachev, who violently knocked him out in the rematch.
Volkanovski then went on to lose the title against Topuria, who
moved up after defending it once. Volkanovski has since won the
vacant title against Diego Lopes
and defended it in a rematch against Lopes.
Meanwhile, Tsarukyan has been sidelined from the lightweight title
picture since pulling out of a title challenge against Makhachev
last year. “Ahalkalakets” was supposed to weigh in as the backup
fighter for the title fight between Topuria and Gaethje at
UFC White House earlier this month. However, finding both
Topuria and Gaethje healthy, Tsarukyan chose to compete in a
wrestling match against Tony
Ferguson instead of weighing in as the backup fighter for the
main event at the White House.