While a rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and featherweight champion Ilia Topuria remains speculative, the Australian is already preparing as if it’s happening.
Reports suggest that UFC 314 on April 12 in Miami is the likely target for the potential rematch. Volkanovski recently released a video documenting the start of his training camp, giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at his preparations.
The footage features "Alexander the Great" training alongside former bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling, adding to the anticipation of an official fight announcement.
We just got here in Thailand — Phuket. … Got in last night,” Volkanovski said. “Obviously, I’m here to do a bit of training camp. Hopefully, a fight announcement soon. But we’re in camp. We’ve been in camp for a while, doing a pre-camp camp. So now we’re pretty much in camp.
Good bodies here for us already. At Bangtao, you’ve always got good bodies, but I’ve got Craig Jones that’s come with us. … We’ve got a heap of good guys to work with over here. I think Aljo is over here as well, so maybe we’ll get some training in. So it’s going to be a good trip.
Volkanovski and Sterling both held UFC gold in overlapping reigns — the former as featherweight champion from 2019 to 2024 and the latter as bantamweight titleholder from 2021 to 2023. Now, both fighters are focused on the featherweight gold, and Sterling is making the most of the opportunity to train alongside one of the division’s all-time greats.
I don’t know what we’re doing, but we’re sparring,” Sterling said. “More for him than for my own personal gain. That’s just kind of the way we do things back home. … Just try to give the looks of our opponents to make it as practical as possible, so we can get that fight feel.
This is actually my first time training with Volk. We’ve seen each other in passing a bunch of different times, at the UFC PI, fighting events, and things like that. This has been a cool experience to kind of work with one of the other greatest guys of all time in the featherweight division. So this is really nice.
With Volkanovski deep in training and speculation growing, fans eagerly await an official confirmation of his highly anticipated rematch with Topuria.