Former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski has requested that Dustin Poirier hold off on retirement so they can have a chance to fight each other next.
Volkanovski had been hoping to get a rematch with new 145lb champ Ilia Topuria next after being KO’d by him in February, but with that fight seemingly unlikely to be the UFC’s preferred option at this stage he seems to be warming up to the idea of fighting Poirier at 155lbs instead.
“Maybe, just maybe, depending on what I’m doing and when, obviously I want to fight later in the year… I don’t want to wait too long, either,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “So, if the timing works, maybe me and Dustin maybe we can have a good fight,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “I don’t know, he sort of just wants good, fun fights. Obviously, we have a lot of respect for each other. And I think that’ll be a massive fight.
“So that’s something that I’ll be willing to do while I’m waiting for that featherweight title. Maybe a lightweight fight against someone like Dustin Poirier will be great. So you heard it here first, maybe we can make something happen. Dustin, you’re a legend, keep your head up, that was a great performance still and maybe we can have a little fun in there, have a little dance, let me know what you think.”
The 35-year-old Poirier didn’t officially call time on his career following his 5th round submission loss to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 on Saturday night, but he did tell Joe Rogan in his post-fight Octagon interview that, “This could be it, honestly.”
Poirier’s reluctance to say for sure does leave the door open for a possible return though, and a major fight with a former long-time champ like Volkanovski, who is still ranked as the No.1 contender at 145lbs and No.7 on the pound-for-pound list, could yet prove to be tempting for him.
