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Henry
Cejudo recently claimed that a featherweight title shot against
Alexander
Volkanovski could
bring him out of retirement. It doesn’t sound as though Cejudo
will get his wish anytime soon.
Volkanovski isn’t especially interested in the possibility unless
the UFC provides the proper offer for a matchup with the former
two-division champion. Cejudo retired from MMA following a victory
over Dominick
Cruz at UFC 249, and the promotion stripped him of his
135-pound belt shortly thereafter.
“My eyes are on my division. i want to defend my belt against No. 1
contenders. We’ve got a stacked division….You got all these guys
fighting and whoever has an impressive performance is gonna be the
No. 1 contender,” Volkanovski said during a virtual media session
to promote his fight against Max
Holloway at UFC 251. “For Henry Cejudo to push in front of the
line, in front of the No. 1 contender, there needs to be money
involved. I’m not into that.
“As I’ve said from Day 1, I don’t want to put my division on hold.
I want to fight No. 1 contenders. For me to be GOAT of this
division, you need to take out No. 1 contenders. So if someone’s
gonna push in front of the line, we need to be compensated for
that.”
For Volkanovski to achieve his goal, a second victory over Holloway
would do a great deal for his legacy. The City Kickboxing
representative claimed the 145-pound belt with a decision triumph
over the Hawaiian at UFC 245 this past December, his 18th
consecutive professional victory overall.
While the division has a number of interesting contenders,
Volkanovski claims it was never a consideration to fight anyone
else other than Holloway. However, he disputes his opponent’s claim
that he called for a rematch with “Blessed.”
“The UFC never brought anyone but Max Holloway. Max is telling
everyone that I was asking for the fight, that was just what the
UFC was asking for,” Volkanovski said. “At the end of the day….It
ended up being the fight I wanted anyway. The biggest fight in my
division is Max and there were no clear No. 1 contenders. A rematch
against Max, you take out one of the greatest of all time…you take
him out back to back, that’s saying something. Right now, that’s
the biggest fight for me.”