"That excites me" - Alexander Volkanovski ranks three potential options for next bout
Alexander Volkanovski is set to defend his featherweight title against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 this weekend. The No.2-ranked pound-for-pound fighter was asked to rank Max Holloway, Ilia Topuria and Aljamain Sterling in order of which potential opponent would interest him the most if he is able to retain his throne. Speaking to Haris Kruskic of Bleacher Report, 'The Great' stated:
"Obviously, fighting Max three times, you're like, 'I'm over that story.' I think that's a hard fight to sell to be quite honest, but with the other two - Ilia, people are talking him up, he trash talks. That excites me. That'll be fun, but then you've got Aljamain who's doing great things in his division. If he was to take out Sean O'Malley, he definitely deserves to step up. He's defended his belt four times so he has every right to want to move up and take a chance at that featherweight strap. They both excite me."
Volkanovski continued:
"There's no one else right now at featherweight that's close. Ilia did take out [Josh] Emmett and to be honest, I don't really want him fighting any of the top contenders because every time one of these guys fight a top contender, they lose and I don't have a number one contender so I'm sick of that happening."
While Ilia Topuria and Aljamain Sterling are both deserving of a featherweight title opportunity, provided the latter retains his bantamweight belt at UFC 292, there is the possibility that Max Holloway could receive a fourth chance to beat Alexander Volkanovski. The featherweight champion will also still need to get past Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290.
Ilia Topuria believes he will finish Alexander Volkanovski in the first round
Ilia Topuria has plenty of confidence if he receives a title opportunity against Alexander Volkanovski. Speaking at the media day for UFC on ABC 5, the No.5-ranked featherweight shared his expectations for a potential matchup, stating:
"Same as always. I'm going to finish him in the first round... Of course it's going to be a little bit bigger to beat someone who is pound-for-pound No.1 and who defended the title so many times. It's going to be bigger than if Yair beats him, and I beat Yair because Yair lost a lot of fights with a lot of ranked guys – with Max Holloway, with Frankie Edgar. He lost a lot of fights. I prefer the fight against Alex and to take the win against him."
Check out Ilia Topuria's comments on Alexander Volkanovski below (starting at the 1:06 mark):
While Topuria is undefeated in 14 fights, finishing 12 of his opponents, Volkanovski has never lost as a featherweight. 'El Matador' later shared that he has no problem fighting the No.2-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in his home country of Australia.