Alexander Volkanovski Confirms Next Fight Will Be for the UFC Title, Shuts Down Diego Lopes Rumors

Former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski’s UFC career might have seen better days but ‘the Great’ believes those days are about to be back again. Volk has claimed that he is going to be fighting for the title next. This also effectively shuts down all rumors about a bout with featherweight prospect Diego Lopes.

However, he remains unsure of when that would be. At present, there are two options as he sees it. The first of these options is that he gets his rematch against the champion Ilia Topuria in the latter’s home in Spain.

Alexander Volkanovski provides an update on his next fight and shuts down rumors of a fight with Diego Lopes:

“Obviously, we’re fighting for the title… there’s no talks of [me fighting Diego Lopes] at all.”

@alexvolkanovski #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/Rf2KAPtPNz

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 21, 2024

The Spaniard has a massive fan following in his home country and has been talking about selling out Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu.

If that is indeed the case, then Volk will be glad to have skipped his own home crowd for it, which brings us to the second option. UFC 312 is being hosted in Sydney, Australia in February 2025. And if that is the case, then Volk will have at best a month and a half to stay fit and ready.

“Could Sydney still be an option? If so, I will make sure I stay fit… I will be getting close to the camp now anyway… So I will just get stuck into it. Stuck into training and we’ll see what happens. Nothing is locked in yet but we’ll see. “

When asked about the Lopes fight being locked in, Volk claimed he had no idea where that speculation came from.

“I think that was just, he’s obviously said let’s do it in Sydney and I think people just ran with that but there’s no talks of that at all. Ahh, you never know, right? But NO! Obviously, we are fighting for the title, so that’s where we are going to mainly focus but we will see what happens. But there’s definitely nothing like that locked in.”

However, despite his legendary status, fans don’t seem too convinced that he should be pulling up for a title fight anytime soon.

Fans remain uncertain about Volk vs Topuria

Volk is a legend in his own right but his last two fights against lightweight champion Islam Makhchev, and then Ilia Topuria ended up in being knockout losses.

While he gave some sort of resistance to Makhachev, the Dagestani fighter put him to sleep with a swift kick to the head. Topuria, on the other hand just outplayed him at everything.

This is why fans believe he needs a win before he challenges for UFC gold again. This man articulated the sentiment and said, “Bro has come off 2 devastating ko losses talking about “we’re fighting for a title” doesn’t matter how long he held it, if he wants a rematch he needs a win“.

Another fan claimed that the title fight would be pointless since he doesn’t see Volk winning and claimed, “I like Volk but the skill gap and power gap between him and the champ is too much, I don’t get why he’s still going for it especially when he is at the back end of his career. Not that many years left to improve”.

About the author

Smrutisnat Jena

Smrutisnat Jena is a UFC Editor with The SportsRush. With 8 years of experience under his belt, Smrutisnat has had a career that has travelled through the multiverse of journalism, be it politics, entertainment or satire. But as a practitioner of amateur wrestling, his true love has always been combat sports. After being introduced to Chuck Liddell at the age of 8, working with MMA has always been THE goal for him. When he's away from work, Smrutisnat likes hanging out with dogs, and sparring with his teammates at the local gym, often simultaneously.

Read More