Alexander Volkanovski Calls Out Dana White for Not Getting Short-Notice Fight Against Islam Makhachev

Former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski had the rare opportunity to fight for the lightweight title thrice as Arman Tsarukyan pulled out of his UFC 311 match at the 11th hour. However, the UFC decided to choose #10 ranked Renato Moicano to take his place on the card, which seems to have irked Volk.

Volk had earlier faced Makhachev at UFC 294 on 11 days notice after former champion Charles Oliveira had pulled out due to an injury sustained in training. Needless to say, Volk believes he should have gotten another shot at Makhachev. He took to Twitter to express his disappointment at not being considered for the job.

It should be noted that the first time Volk fought Islam (UFC 284), the fight went the distance, resulting in a controversial judges’ decision win for the champion. That win remains, to this day, the most contentious of Makhachev’s career. However, Volk’s decision to agree to the rematch at UFC 294 on short notice became the most disastrous decision of his entire career.

Islam came far more prepared and ensured that the bout never went beyond the first round, knocking out Volk with a head kick in 3 minutes and 6 seconds to retain the title.

Volk would move back to the featherweight division after this and defend the 145 lbs title against Ilia Topuria at UFC 298. The once-dominant champion suddenly looked a lot more susceptible to damage. Topuria, young and hungry, looking for his first title, stung Volk with a right in the second round, handing the champion his second consecutive KO loss.

He has since been out of commission and is waiting for a title shot in a rematch against Topuria.

In the meantime, Moicano and Makhachev got into an intense staredown at the UFC 311 face-off as the challenger claimed, he couldn’t afford to lose.

Moicano gets his wish

Interestingly, ahead of his scheduled bout with Beneil Dariush, Moicano had asserted that not only was he going to dominate his opponent, but once he was done, he would call out whoever was the champion of the division.

He could have wished for a million dollars and his luck might have just granted him that as well. Million dollars have fewer ways of hurting a person than the UFC lightweight person, after all. However, Moicano doesn’t care.

Because even if things had gone according to his original plan, there wasn’t much of a chance that either Islam or Arman would have accepted his challenge for the title. So, while fighting Makhachev on a day’s notice is a dangerous prospect, Moicano doesn’t want to kick the gift horse in the mouth.

So, following his faceoff with Makhachev, Moicano turned to the camera and let his feelings known.

“I don’t give a f*ck. I cannot afford to f*cking lose. It doesn’t matter if it’s the champion or not, tomorrow I’m winning.”

Whether or not it works out for Moicano tomorrow, this is beginning to look like a really fun fight to watch.