Why Alexander Volkanovski Wants Ilia Topuria to Capture UFC Lightweight Title

Alexander
Volkanovski’s dream bout is a rematch against Ilia
Topuria with the
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title on the
line.

Volkanovski (27-4) lost his featherweight title via a brutal
knockout against Topuria (16-0) at UFC 298 last year. Topuria then
defended his belt just once against Max
Holloway before moving up to lightweight. Meanwhile,
Volkanovski won the vacant title via a unanimous decision against
Diego
Lopes at UFC 314 last month. While Volkanovski would have
ideally liked to avenge his loss, that ship has sailed for the time
being.

However, not all hope if lost for “The Great.” Topuria is rallying
for a lightweight title shot against Islam
Makhachev, which the champ is unwilling to accept until “La
Leyenda” has proven himself at 155 pounds. Topuria recently
announced that his fighting at UFC 317 on June 28, although he
didn’t name an opponent.

If and when Topuria competes for the lightweight title, Volkanovski
wants the Georgian-Spaniard to win it. The Australian envisions a
double champ bid against Topuria, along with the chance to exact
revenge.

“Perfect world would have been having that rematch to get the belt
back,” Volkanovski told Ariel Helwani. “But that just wasn’t the
case. You got to respect what he’s doing. Done with the
featherweight, he wants to chase the lightweight. Let him do his
thing. And then if we do do it, maybe we do it at lightweight…
Imagine that, if he was to win and then we have a rematch at
lightweight. Oh man, it doesn’t get much bigger than that. That’s
the perfect world for me.”

Volkanovski has previously suffered two failed lightweight title
bids against Makhachev. The reason Makhachev is hesitant to fight
Topuria is because his wins over Volkanovski were undermined by
detractors as wins over a featherweight.