Volkanovski: I'll 'probably' wait for Topuria-Holloway winner
Former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski intends to wait for an opportunity to regain his title rather than take a fight at lightweight.
Volkanovski said he's targeting the winner of the UFC 308 title bout between current champ Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway, which takes place Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
"The Great" previously contemplated moving back to 155 pounds to face someone like Charles Oliveira or Dustin Poirier while Topuria and Holloway settled their business.
"I can wait ... that's probably what I'm gonna do," Volkanovski told Sky Sport NZ. "I could've maybe done a lightweight fight. I think there's a lot of exciting fights there. But the UFC aren't big fans of floating (between divisions). They go, 'Look, you wanna go to lightweight? You're gonna have to probably stay there.' That's the only thing. And then I might lose that featherweight title shot. I might just have to wait."
Volkanovski has been out of action since Topuria ended his five-year reign as 145-pound champion with a devastating second-round knockout at UFC 298 in February. That was Volkanovski's fourth fight in 12 months, so the Australian said after the loss he planned to sit on the sidelines for a while and return later in the year.
However, he thought Topuria and Holloway would fight a bit sooner than October.
"It ended up being at a date where I was like, 'Oh, I could've maybe come back here,'" Volkanovski said. "Everything's probably gonna get pushed back a couple months further than I probably would've liked. But at the same time, I can't be active and just fight anybody. … Me just taking a fight just to stay busy just doesn't make sense."
Volkanovski said he's leaning toward Holloway, a former champion himself, to defeat Topuria and recapture the throne. Volkanovski holds three wins over Holloway in what is one of the greatest rivalries in UFC featherweight history.
"It's a tough fight. Ilia's got some hands on him. He's not easily shook. He's gonna come forward, he's gonna be looking for the finish the whole way through that fight," Volkanovski said. "But I think Max is just gonna be able to do a little bit too much for him the whole way and not get hit. And even if he does get hit, I think Max has got that chin that we all know about.
"I think he's just gonna be a little bit too much for Ilia."