Alexander Volkanovski has a farewell idea for Justin Gaethje.
The UFC featherweight champion said he would welcome a super fight with Gaethje for the lightweight title. Gaethje, who was already interim champion, became undisputed champion at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House in June when Ilia Topuria’s corner stopped the fight after four rounds.
Imagine that,” Volkanovski told Who The Fook Are These Guys. “You do that as like a send off, Gaethje and Volk, ’cause he’s talking about… Does he want to fight still? He’s like, maybe one more, then that could be like a super fight.
Let’s do a super fight, lightweight title on the line and then we can both see everyone off with a crazy super fight.
Volkanovski said Gaethje himself has questioned the value of rematches.
[Gaethje is] sitting there and goes, ‘Ah, what’s the point of doing rematches and all that?’ I’m like, oh, let’s do a super fight,” he said. “Let’s do it. And then, straight after that, let the divisions sort themselves out, you know what I mean? And UFC will be happy with that.
Volkanovski is 0-2 in lightweight title fights, both against Islam Makhachev. He lost a decision in their first fight and was knocked out in the first round of a short-notice rematch.
The UFC has not named Gaethje’s next challenger. Arman Tsarukyan is coming off a first-round knockout of Mauricio Ruffy, and BMF champion Charles Oliveira faces Diego Lopes in the UFC 335 main event on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas.
First, Volkanovski defends his featherweight title against the 20-0 Movsar Evloev in the UFC 333 main event on Oct. 24 in Abu Dhabi. A win would be his seventh title defense, tying Jose Aldo’s UFC record, and his ninth featherweight title-fight win, the most in UFC history.
Volkanovski expects to finish Evloev.
He wants to grab a hold of me and hold me down, and that ain’t happening,” he said. “He’s going to be forced to be on the feet and let’s see if he can handle that. … I’m not sitting back waiting, I’m going to be forcing a fight, and I think we get a finish, boys. I really do.
