Alexander Volkanovski: The UFC Should Keep Ilia Topuria Safe From Prominent Rivals
Intentionally seeking to unseat emerging competitor Ilia Topuria, Alexander Volkanovski hopes to be the one to break his winning streak.
Intentionally seeking to unseat emerging competitor Ilia Topuria, Alexander Volkanovski hopes to be the one to break his winning streak.
Intentionally seeking to unseat emerging competitor Ilia Topuria, Alexander Volkanovski hopes to be the one to break his winning streak.
The UFC featherweight champion would want to face Topuria but isn’t entirely confident that they will meet since he doesn’t think Topuria will be unbeaten for very long. Desperate to get his hands on Topuria first, Volkanovski (25-2 MMA, 12-1 UFC) requested that the UFC keep top contenders away from the Brazilian.
At the UFC 290 media day on Wednesday, Volkanovski remarked:
“I think you all are hyping him up; many people are asking me about him.”
“So yeah, keep top contenders away from him because I might not be facing him. You guys are saying he’s the guy; cool, let’s keep him away from everyone. If he’s going to get a whooping, let’s make it from me.”
A championship unification fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Mexico’s Yair Rodriguez (16-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) will take place this weekend in the main event of UFC 290. Rodriguez currently holds the interim featherweight championship.
Keeping Rodriguez in mind, Volkanovski wants to avoid thinking about Topuria now, although he is open to it. The Australian has seen very little of Topuria thus far and is not pleased.
“I wasn’t that impressed; you guys were.”
“But I’m glad that everyone was impressed because that will just hype up a future fight. I have more of a threat in front of me this weekend. If Ilia wants that smoke, I know it’s going to be good because he likes to talk trash, which is fun. Punching people in the face that talk trash is so much better.”
Alexander Volkanovski
