UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is eying a matchup with Conor McGregor before he eventually calls it quits.
Volkanovski is set to make his next featherweight title defense against Chan Sung Jung (otherwise known as ‘The Korean Zombie’) in the upcoming UFC 273 headliner. He’s coming off of a largely dominant win over Brian Ortega at UFC 266.
Volkanovski was supposed to face Max Holloway next before Holloway pulled out with an injury. Jung is the next man up, but a fight with McGregor remains on the 145-pound champion’s mind.
In an exclusive interview with MMA News’ James Lynch, Volkanovski spoke about what the effect would be of a McGregor fight for his legacy.
“Obviously, Conor’s always gonna get his name out there,” Volkanovski said. “You’ve gotta remember, he was a featherweight, he was a champion of my division. So, I’ve taken out the featherweight champs, so to take out, the only one left, isn’t he? Yeah, it’s just Conor. There was me, Aldo, Max, and Conor. So it makes a lot of sense. Obviously, it would be a dream. And then I’ve taken out all the other champs in my division. So that would be incredible.
“You talk about the payday and the circus around it would be great, but at the same time, when you talk about legacy that’s definitely—and he’s undefeated at featherweight, too. So that’d mean something.”
McGregor hasn’t competed at featherweight since he won the unified title over José Aldo at UFC 194. He went on to fight at welterweight and lightweight, eventually earning the 155-pound title over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205.
Volkanovski fought at welterweight and lightweight to begin his professional career on the Australian regional scene, but a majority of his career has been at featherweight. Volkanovski went on to allude to the flexibility when it comes to the weight class that a McGregor fight would be competed at.
“I don’t think he’s making featherweight anytime soon [LAUGHS]. Obviously, with that fight, you’d do it at any weight. I’d do that at welterweight if I had to, whatever. We’ll see. I’ll just worry about Zombie, cause Zombie’s in front of me, and we’ll see. You might get some drunk tweets from Conor again and maybe we can ride off that, see what happens from there… 100% I would (fight McGregor at welterweight). I’d fight him at any weight.”
Volkanovski earned the featherweight title over Holloway at UFC 245, before winning a controversial split decision in an immediate rematch at UFC 251. He’s arguably one of the greatest featherweights in UFC history and continues to climb the ranks in the all-time great discussion.
McGregor is targeting a return to the Octagon later this year after a nasty leg break at UFC 264. It’s unclear what weight McGregor will fight at for his return, but a fight with Volkanovski may not be out of the cards as soon as this year.
You can view MMA News’ full interview with Alexander Volkanovski below!
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