Alexander Volkanovski plans to defend both featherweight and lightweight titles if victorious at UFC 284
With UFC 284 just around the corner, reigning featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski plans to stay active at both divisions if he is to become the fifth fighter to ever hold two titles simultaneously in different weight classes. The current top ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC will challenge reigning lightweight champion Islam Makhachev for the 155-pound title at UFC 284, next weekend, in his home country of Australia.
The top two fighters in the pound-for-pound rankings will face off and during a recent interview, Volkanovski made it known that he plans to stay active in both the featherweight and lightweight divisions if he were to become a two-division champion. Speaking to Jimmy Smith of Sirius XM on ‘Unlocking The Cage’ this past week, Volkanovski made it clear that he wants to keep his word and keep both divisions busy.
"I made a promise that I would keep both divisions busy…I'm a man of my word."@alexvolkanovski shares his plans for his future at 145 if he wins the 155lb title at #UFC284 w/@jimmysmithmma on Unlocking the Cage pic.twitter.com/tRIoxbYkNG
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) February 2, 2023
“Obviously I made a promise that I’ll keep both divisions busy and that’s a certainty, I’m a man of my word. I have always been a man of my word, that’s just who I am. So I want to do that, I want to stay busy, and I don’t want to hold any divisions. I want to be active.”
Having achieved all the success imaginable at 145-pounds and considered one of the greatest featherweights in UFC history, Alexander Volkanovski will have to decide if he wants to keep putting his body through the extra weight cut, if he wins the 155-pound title as well. He would go on to explain that the toughest challenge for him was bulking up for a fight against Islam Makhachev, but doesn’t believe he’ll have to focus on his weight as he stays active in both divisions.
“Right now especially for my weight, the hardest thing was bulking and then being able to go back down and things like that. The bulking that I needed to do, I feel like I only needed to do it for an Islam fight. I feel like floating between the featherweight and lightweight after this, I can sit at a comfortable weight that I can make both divisions pretty easily. I don’t think I need to focus so much on bulking and strength and all that.”
Showing full confidence in his ability to manage his weight in the future, Volkanovski said that he focused more on strength and bulking for a fight against Makhachev because of the respect he has for the current lightweight champion.
“I believe the respect I have for Islam and their team, I believe I needed to do that so I did it. Other than that, and that’s no disrespect to other people in the division, but I feel like I’ve always been strong and all that type of stuff so I won’t have to worry about that. And I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that moving on. So that’ll make my float between both divisions cruisy, I want to stay active and I’ll show yous that I can do it.”
If his weight for UFC 284 is the only concern for Alexander Volkanovski and his quest to become a two-division champion who will stay active in both divisions, his matchup against Islam Makhachev becomes even more intriguing. Out of the previous “champ-champs” in UFC history, only Amanda Nunes has gone on to defend both titles, as she has defended both her featherweight and bantamweight titles. Before Nunes, Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Henry Cejudo, all relinquished one of their titles to focus on just one weight class.
First things first for Volkanovski, he’ll have to get a victory over Islam Makhachev before there’s any discussions or decisions about his plans as a two-division champion.
