Alexander Volkanovski bashes Ilia Topuria for indecision on choosing next opponent: "Starting to put a bit of a sour taste in people's mouths"
Alexander Volkanovski does not seem especially keen on aspects of how Ilia Topuria has been behaving as the UFC featherweight champion.
In a recent interview on the FREESTYLEBENDER YouTube channel with Israel Adesanya's brother David, the former UFC featherweight champion fielded some questions about the man who claimed his belt, Topuria.
When asked about how Ilia Topuria is carrying himself as champion by not being keen on fighting top 145 pounders and eyeing a Conor McGregor fight, Alexander Volkanovski said:
"He's rolling with it but I think it's starting to put a bit of a sour taste in people's mouths. Like I don't mind the guy. I really don't, like he plays the game. Obviously a lot of people are gonna give him; oh, he's cocky. Man, like he did a great job promoting that fight. He's actually a respectful dude but if that's what he wants to do, good on him."
He added:
"He did it well and it paid off for him. But just with this stuff, it's just like it doesn't look good. When you're telling everyone you don't want to fight any of the top contenders, it's like what do you mean? You're coming from a champion who would fight anyone, anywhere, any weight, any time."
Check Volkanovski discussing Topuria's approach as champion below (9:47):
Alexander Volkanovski and his desire for lightweight action if the featherweight title rematch doesn't happen
Alexander Volkanovski is someone who is regarded as arguably the greatest featherweight fighter in MMA history. So it makes sense that his primary focus at 145 pounds at this juncture would mostly just be a title fight.
The 35-year-old has previously vied for the lightweight belt in a pair of contests against Islam Makhachev but seems to have a lot of unfinished business at 155 pounds. During the aforementioned interview for Israel Adesanya's YouTube channel, Volkanovski is eyeing some exciting possible matchups at lightweight against men who have held hardware in that division.
'The Great' mentioned a desire to fight former lineal lightweight titleholder Charles Oliveira and also former interim 155-pound champion Dustin Poirier. Plus, each of these men has prior histories as featherweights and all parties also have mutual opponents.
Alexander Volkanovski foresees an Ilia Topuria vs Max Holloway featherweight title fight taking place in the Fall and while not officially announced, Volk is willing to keep busy in a higher weight category in the meantime.