UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski has moved to quieten down talk that his title defense against Diego Lopes at UFC 325 in February could be his last fight before retiring.
“I’m seeing that everywhere as well,” Volkanovski said when asked by 10 News Australia about the rumor. “I don’t know where that comes from. No, it hasn’t been planned to be my last fight, so you don’t really need to worry about that. I think you’re going to just take it as it goes from here on, but there’s definitely no plans of that.“
The 37-year-old Volkanovski went on to suggest that he’ still interested in fights with other leading contenders like Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy once he’s faced Lopes for a second time.
“My plan is going out there, and as I told you, not taking too much damage, going out there and really setting a statement, be really impressive in there, and maybe get a quick turnaround. And then we’ll see what happens from there. I think you’ve got a couple of other guys as well, like Movsar [Evloev], Lerone Murphy, undefeated and all that. So, for the legacy, they look like they might be pretty good as well.
“So, we’ll see what happens. This one, do this, in Sydney, put on a show. We’ll see what happens, but definitely no plans for that.”
And that’s not all, as Volkanovski has admitted that he still has a desire to get revenge against Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev if he can put together a winning streak as champion at 145lbs.
“I’d love to rematch and get them wins back on Islam Makhachev or Ilia Topuria,” Volkanovski said. “But I’m pretty [OK] with it. I understand that I can’t just call for a champ-champ fight right now. I know I’ve got work to do in my division. Being a champion is a responsibility, and I take that serious. I know I’ve got guys in my division, and I don’t want to hold up the division. So, I want to do what I need to do, and you never know, maybe after I what I said I’m planning on doing in Sydney, Feb. 1, go do that, have a turnaround, get another victory over an undefeated guy, maybe that’s fair, I think that’s fair enough to be calling for a champ-champ fight then.”
