Alexander Volkanovski Hopes UFC Gives Ilia Topuria Title Shot

UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski has expressed that he wants to give a title shot to Ilia Topuria next.

Ilia Topuria has impressed Volkanovski with his recent win. Topuria’s recent fight was against Josh Emmett at the UFC on ABC 5 main event, where he won by unanimous decision solidifying his unbeaten record. Topuria has not lost a single fight in his 14 fights career so far. The unbeaten streak attracted Volkanovski, and he wants to finish the streak.

During an interview on “DC & RC Show” with Daniel Cormier and Ryan Clark, Volkanovski expressed that Topuria does not need to fight with anyone else now as he is a legit contender and surely deserves a title shot. Volkanovski also expressed Topuria’s skill and considers him a worthy opponent and the best challenger for the Featherweight title right now.

Alexander Volkanovski is scheduled for the main event at UFC 290 on July 8 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. He will be facing Yair Rodriguez in a featherwieght title unification bout. Volkanovski himself was on a 22 fights winning streak until he lost to Islam Makhachev at UFC 284 event in the fight for UFC Lightweight Championship.

While he might want to take a shot at the lightweight title in the future, Volkanovksi mentioned in the interview that he wanted to stay active and take worthy challengers for the featherweight title right now.

Since debuting in UFC in 2020, Topuria has won 6 fights in the promotion with 4 finishes(3 KOs & 1 submission). He climbed to #5 in UFC Featherweight rankings after his recent win. In the post-show interview, Topuria also expressed that he wished for Volkanovski to win his title unification bout and would be willing to fly to Australia to face him his home country if it gives him a title shot.