Alexander Volkanovski has plans to compete quickly after his next title defence – shutting down talks of a potential retirement.
The featherweight champion rematches Diego Lopes in Sydney at UFC 325 in the second of two back-to-back world title events as the sport returns. And he wants to get right back into it after the fact before he even thinks about hanging up his gloves.
Fans have been confused by this rematch, given that less than a year ago Volkanovski relatively comfortably sent Lopes packing in Miami at UFC 314. But he is keen to face another stiff challenge and perhaps a new one if he gets his wish.
Alexander Volkanovski addresses retirement rumors with defiant statement
Alexander Volkanovski is already going to go down in featherweight history as potentially the greatest champion of all time. Wins over Jose Aldo, Max Holloway and other icons of the division have made him a front-runner, and he still harbours ambitions of a move up to challenge for the lightweight title again.
However, reports of a potential retirement seem to follow him wherever he goes, although he insists it doesn’t irk him. “I’m an open book,” he told Southern Cross Combat. “I just say it how it is and like I’m 37.
“I’m not just gonna sit there and like, ‘Oh, I’m not allowed to say that retirement is in the near future, because then everyone’s going to think that, ‘oh, he’s done, this and that’. That’s not how I am.
“Like, a lot of people were even last fight, because I was doing the cooking and stuff and all that, saying ‘He’s not paying attention’. I was like, ‘You come and watch me for a weekend and see if I’m not paying attention’,
It’s just that people are going to say these things. For me, I’m just going to do it, and then let what I do in octagon show them different, right? Like, I’ll let them think whatever they want.
“But yeah, man, I’m an open book, I’ll have them conversations. I’m not offended at all, because I’m having them exact same conversations with people. People ask me, ‘Oh, how much more?’ I don’t know, man.
“I’ll get out of this one, get my hand raised, hopefully no damage, and get back in there straight away. We’ll see what happens after that. That’s sort of where we’re at.”