Alexander Volkanovski has been stewing on the sidelines since his KO defeat by Ilia Topuria brought an ignominious end to his featherweight reign.
The Australian, who has been one of the UFC’s most dominant fighters in recent years, is biding his time for a comeback and opened up on what could be next for him.
Topuria’s first defence is against Max Holloway in a hugely exciting UFC 308 match-up next month and Volkanovski may push to meet the winner.
He told Sky Sports New Zealand: ‘That’s exactly what’s happening. So I can wait or if I don’t want to wait, I can do something else. Or just wait, and the UFC has made that clear. Obviously, that’s probably what I’m going to do.
‘I could have maybe done a lightweight fight, I think there’s a lot of exciting fights there, but the UFC aren’t big fans of floating.
Alexander Volkanovski spoke about his plan to wait and face the winner of UFC 208
The Aussie was knocked out by Ilia Topuria in his last fight in February this year
‘Look, you want to go to lightweight, you’re going to have to probably stay there, that’s the only thing, and then I might lose that featherweight title shot. So I might just have to wait. It’s only a couple of months, I’m sure I’ll be fine.’
Having beaten Holloway three times in an epic rivalry and been in the cage with Topuria recently, ‘The Great’ is well placed to predict the outcome of the October 26 showdown.
‘Who would I rather fight?’ Volkanovski added. ‘Obviously, Ilia’s got that one over me. I want that back. But at the end of the day, I want that belt back as well.
‘And who do I think is going to win? Probably Max. But again, it’s a tough fight. Ilia’s got some hands on him, he’s not easily shook, he’s going to come forward, he’s going to be looking for the finish the whole way through that fight, but I think Max is just going to be a little bit too much for Ilia.
‘But if Ilia walks through him, he’s proven himself, but then I’m just going to take it back off him anyway.’
At 35, Volkanovski is also aware that he has to temper his natural urge to stay busy in favour of waiting for the fights that really matter.
Volkanovski believes Max Holloway, pictured after knocking out Justin Gaethje, will have too much for Topuria
He went on: ‘What gets me out of bed, just a contender fight at featherweight?’ It’s probably going to be hard. Look, I love to be active, but at the same time I need the right fights.
‘It’s easy to be active and get the right fights while you’re champion because you’re defending against the No. 1 contenders.
‘Very, very easy to stay active and have important fights. But me just taking a fight just to stay busy, it just doesn’t make sense.’
