Alexander Volkanovski next fight: What is next for ‘The Great’ after UFC 290 demolition?

Alexander Volkanovski continues to reign as the UFC featherweight champion after defeating Yair Rodriguez in his fifth title defense. As expected, Volkanovski was flawless and didn’t give the challenger much room to do anything during the fight. In the third round, the Aussie took Rodriguez and finished the fight via TKO.

Now Volkanovski is looking for a challenge, however, before that the fighter has announced that he will go through hand surgery. “I need surgery on my arm. This training camp has been tough, but I would have gone out and fought anyway. I plan to fight more this year, so I will stay in shape for recovery and I’ll be back soon,” said Alexander Volkanovski after the fight. 

Related: “He is above Khabib,” Fans rally behind Alexander Volkanovski as GOAT following title defense against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290

Will Alexander Volkanovski fight Ilia Topuria next? 

Volkanovski has a reputation for not running away from any challenges and it seems like Ilia Topuria might get that opp. After the UFC 290 fight, both fighters went face to face at the octagon side and exchanged a few words. 

However, the ‘Great’ doesn’t see Topuria as a tough challenge to deal with. During the post-fight press conference, Volkanovski said: “I shouldn’t say how easy I think that fight is going to be. Because then people might not be interested, but he’s going to talk his s***, and people are going to want to see me punch him in the face, so it don’t matter. But, I look at that [fight] as again, no disrespect to the bloke, but the s*** he is doing ain’t going to work on me, and hopefully, you’ll get to see that soon.“

Alexander Volkanovski plans to fight again for the lightweight championship

Apart from the new featherweight challenge, what excites Alexander Volkanovski more is the title rematch with Islam Makhachev. Volkanovski is still motivated to become the double champion and has mentioned that in the next fight, he will like to get a finish.

“I’d be lying to say I’ll just walk through him and do this and do that,” Volkanovski told the reporters at the UFC 290 post-fight news conference. “It’s going to be another highly contested battle, but I guarantee I get my hand raised. I’m going to capitalize on a lot more things. It is two tough guys going at it. They’ve done five rounds and there’s a good chance you might see another five rounds of it. I’d love to get a finish. We’re both so good that it might be another tougher fight. But I’m looking forward, again.”

Volkanovski needs to get the surgery done and after that, everybody would get to know who he’s going to fight next. On the other hand, Makhachev might get scheduled for the Charles Oliveira rematch next. Nevertheless, all these fights are super interesting for the fans. 

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