Alexander Volkanovsk wanted Ilia Topuria rematch, | MMA News
Former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovksi discovered when everybody else did that Ilia Topuria was vacating the 145-pound title. He knew he was going to face Diego Lopes however did not know the vacant belt could be on the road.
Volkanovski (26-4) held the featherweight world title from December 2019 till February 2024. In that time, he had 5 profitable title defenses and fought for the light-weight championship twice.
“I really discovered when Dana [White] introduced it that he was vacating. I knew it was going to be Diego, like two weeks earlier than,” Volkanovski mentioned on the Believe You Me Podcast.
“At that stage I was like, ‘Come on. What’s going on? I’ll fight anyone, interim, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Just let me fight. I can do Ilia later if he doesn’t want to fight now, or whatever it is.’ So, that’s where we were at. Then, I ended up seeing his [White’s] live and he was like, ‘He’s vacating. He’s moving up.’
“I used to be like, ‘wow.’ I did not count on – despite the fact that I had heard him speak about it – I knew that he ultimately wanted to maneuver up. I simply did not suppose he would simply vacate,” continued Volkanovski.
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Volkanovski lost the title to Topuria and wanted a rematch with “El Matador,” but believes fighting for the vacant belt against Lopes is the next best thing.
“He (Topuria) will need to have one thing locked up. Does he have that Islam [Makhachev] combat locked in? I do not know. It solely is smart for him to really vacate, or he actually does imagine that he is carried out enough at featherweight and he simply needs to chase that light-weight,” said Volkanovski. “Good on him, man. I’m not going to stand in his means. Obviously, I wanted that combat, however I acquired the subsequent best factor for the an precise belt.”
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