Miami — Count former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who returns at UFC 314 to face Diego Lopes for his old 145lb title, among those surprised that Ilia Topuria opted to vacate that very same belt ahead of his move up to lightweight.
After all, many champs, Volkanovski among them, have held onto their titles while pursuing a second.
“Yeah, I was pretty surprised with him vacating. I knew he wanted to chase the lightweight title, to move up, I heard him saying that,” Volkanovski (26-4) told Cageside Press during Wednesday’s UFC 314 media day in Miami. “But I didn’t think he would give up the belt that easy, I thought he would try and hold it. So that’s why you’ve got to have respect for that, like for him to not want to hold up a division.”
Volkanovski had been in a holding pattern, waiting for a rematch with Topuria, who dethroned him last February. Once Topuria had defended his title against Max Holloway, Australia’s Volkanovski was expecting a rematch — especially given the pair had been faced off in the cage.
“I got to a point where, obviously I wanted that fight back, I wanted that win back. It got to a point where I’m waiting, because I was hoping to fight a bit later last year. Even October, maybe December-ish,” recalled Volkanovski. “So it was starting to drag on, I got to a point where I was like ‘alright, if he’s going to wait around, I’ll do an interim against someone and then we’ll fight.’ It got to that point. So it wasn’t a surprise that he moved up, but surprised that he vacated.”
Volkanovski also revealed that he’d become aware of the Diego Lopes fight back when the UFC returned to Sydney, Australia in February.
“I knew it was going to be Diego at UFC Sydney, and I didn’t know if it was interim, I didn’t know Ilia’s situation. So I heard that on Dana’s live as well [that Topuria had vacated], so I was quite surprised at that,” continued Volkanovski. “But full credit to him, you’ve got to give him a lot of respect. I obviously still want that fight back, but I’ll let him do his thing. He’s committed to this, let him do that.”
Still, Alexander Volkanovski believes that soon enough, he and Ilia Topuria will cross paths once again. “I plan on being that active, defending champ like I said. Once he’s done his fight, if he was to win the belt, imagine us to running it back. Both champions, after me having this little title reign, like I’m expecting to have a couple of fights by the time he fights to be honest, that’s how active I want to be. So then you can just imagine how big that rematch could be. Getting that win back, it’s still an opportunity not too far in.”
Watch the full UFC 314 media day appearance by Alexander Volkanovski above.
