Alexander Volkanovski appears to be serious about his desire to move up to 155lbs to challenge for the lightweight title and he’s even open to the idea of the UFC putting on an interim 145lb title fight between Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett while he’s away.
“To be honest, I don’t mind the idea, while I’m sitting here… Let them fight for that No. 1 contender,” Volkanovski said on The MMA Hour show. “I think they both deserve it. Josh Emmett and Yair Rodriguez are both in a position where they could get a shot. Is there screaming for them like it needs to be [one] of them? No, not really. So, let them fight for that No. 1 contender. If it’s for the interim belt then we’ll fight. Sweet. Cause I’m not lying when I said I want to be active.”
“The perfect (thing) for me, lightweight title early next year and then if they do this interim thing, if that happens, it’ll just make for a bigger fight anyway, so I don’t mind. Then you’ve got a clear number one guy. Everyone’s going t be screaming their name after who ever wins out of Josh Emmett and Yair Rodriguez.”
With all that being said, Volkanovski admits that if it wasn’t for the fact that he is currently dealing with post-surgery following hand surgery then he might think differently about the idea.
“If I didn’t have this, I would be like ‘this is stupid,’ but I’m like ‘why not?’ I don’t look at it any other way. At the end of the day, I am the champ.”
