Alexander Volkov made short work of Alexander Romanov at UFC Fight Night 221 this past weekend and then turned his sights on avenging a prior loss to recent heavyweight title contender Ciryl Gane.
“Really, I’d like to possibly revenge somebody that I’ve lost to,” Volkov said after the event. “Maybe, for instance, my rematch with Gane would be interesting.”
Volkov went up against Gane back in June of 2021 but lost via unanimous decision on that occasion.
Since then Volkov has won three of his next four fights, earning a decision win over Marcin Tybura and another first round TKO finish against Jairzinho Rozenstruik to add to the one he picked up on Saturday night, while his sole loss during that period came via submission against Tom Aspinall a year ago.
All of which leaves the 34-year-old Volkov ranked No.7 in the heavyweight division, still some way short of Gane, who remains in the No.1 contender spot despite his swift submission loss to Jon Jones at UFC 285.
Coming into that fight Gane had delivered a third round knockout of Tai Tuivasa and his overall record still stands at a very solid 11-2, but it’ll no doubt trouble him that he’s now came up short in both of his title challenges, having also lost to his rival and former teammate Francis Ngannou last year.
As such Gane will likely be looking for the quickest route back to title contention, and so it may well be that he’ll be looking for a higher ranked opponent than Volkov next to prove he’s worthy of that, with the likes of Sergei Pavlovich (No.3) and Curtis Blaydes (No.4) both being opponents he’s yet to face in the UFC.
Meanwhile, Volkov hasn’t gone up against the No.6 ranked Tuivasa before, so perhaps that could be an option the UFC will consider for him.
