Reigning UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski wants to add to his legacy by fighting and defeating the former 145-pound king, Conor McGregor.
Volkanovski, who is set to defend his belt against Chan Sung Jung at UFC 273 on April 9, 2022, has an impressive professional MMA record of 23-1. Undefeated inside the Octagon, “The Great” holds victories over two former UFC featherweight champions, Max Holloway and Jose Aldo.
In fact, the only ex-UFC 145-pound champion Volkanovski hasn’t fought is McGregor. After winning the belt in 2015 by knocking out Aldo in 13 seconds, “Notorious” left the weight class and hasn’t returned. Like Volkanovski, McGregor is undefeated as a UFC featherweight.
While speaking with MMA News’ James Lynch, The Great outlined why fighting McGregor is important to him and why he isn’t necessarily looking to fight him at 145 pounds.
“Obviously, Conor is always gonna get his name out there,” Volkanovski via MMA Fighting. “You gotta remember, he was a featherweight, he was a champion of my division. So I’ve taken out the featherweight champs. That’s the only one left, isn’t it? Me, Aldo, Max, and Conor. So it makes a lot of sense. Obviously, it would be a dream and then I’ve taken out all the other champs in my division so that would be incredible. Obviously, you talk about the payday and all that — the circus around it would be great. But at the same time, talking about legacy, he’s undefeated at featherweight, too. That would mean something. I don’t think he’s making featherweight too soon [though].
“If we fight, you do it at any weight. I’d do that at welterweight if I had to, whatever. But at the same time, we’ll see. I’ll just worry about Zombie cause Zombie’s in front of me and we’ll see.”
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Volkanovski Wants to Stay at Featherweight But Is Open to Fighting Heavier
GettyAlexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway
Volkanovski plans to compete at 145 pounds but is also willing to “float” from lightweight to featherweight. He has a goal of becoming a simultaneous two-division UFC champion, and if that happens, he’ll continue to defend his featherweight belt.
“I’m planning on staying at featherweight even if I move up, I want to float in both,” Volkanovski said. “I’m not saying I want to just move to lightweight and stay at lightweight. When people ever ask me if I think of a move to lightweight, it is double champ status, while I still got both belts. The role of lightweight champ and featherweight champ, that’s my vision. Not just fighting in lightweight. Cause I make featherweight reasonably easy so there’s no reason for me to have to move up.”
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Volkanovski Hasn’t Lost in Nearly a Decade
Volkanovski has only faced defeat once in his professional career: a TKO loss to Corey Nelson in 2013 at Australian FC 5. It happened in his fourth pro fight, and The Great has known only winning since then.
Besides Aldo and Holloway, Volkanovski boasts wins over the likes of Chad Mendes, Brian Ortega and Darren Elkins.
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UFC Champ on Why He Has ‘Dream’ of Fighting Conor McGregor