After Battering Yair Rodriguez Bloodied, Alexander Volkanovski Warns Ilia Topuria to Not Go Against His Wish

UFC’s featherweight division is stacked with exceptional talents and numerous worthy title challengers. UFC 290 witnessed the featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski fight, dominate, and finish challenger Yair Rodriguez in what proved to be one of the best title fight performances of the year.

Shortly after the fight, ‘The Great’ walked up to another worthy title contender and participated in an intense face-off with him. It was none other than the rising UFC star Ilia Topuria. The Georgian UFC fighter has been shocking the world with brutally dominant performances, one after the other. Now, just days after the UFC 290 PPV, champion Volkanovski sent a fierce message to Topuria.

Alexander Volkanovski offers Ilia Topuria a direct title fight

‘El Matador’ sits at #5 in the UFC featherweight rankings. While some fans and critics feel that he deserves a title shot, others have pitched him against the featherweight gatekeeper – Max Holloway.

Appearing in the MMA Hour Podcast with Ariel Helwani, Volkanovski addressed Topuria’s potential fight against Holloway and made a bold statement about it. The champ asked him to skip and Holloway fight and face him directly!

“I’m talking to Ilia if he’s watching. Please don’t fight Max. Dont fight Max, all right? Let’s just not let that happen, okay? Let me be the guy to beat you up”. Further, Volkanovski even addressed Topuria’s claims that he can knock the champion in the first round. “There’s confidence and then there’s the delusion”, said the champ.

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Apparently, ‘The Great’ does not think Topuria can get past Holloway, and there he wants to directly fight him and settle their newborn rivalry. “I don’t have full confidence in him winning the next one (against Max). So I want to be the guy that put the beating on him.”

Why did Alexander Volkanovski decide to face off against Ilia Topuria?

When the Australian fighter walked out of the cage after his 5th title defense, fans expected him to head to the post-fight celebration directly. But he decided to exchange some words with Topuria, who was present in the crowd.

In the recent podcast, Volkanovski revealed his intentions behind this move. According to the champ, he always wants to have an opponent ready, and does not want to sit out.

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“I want to be active, I want guys, I don’t want to sit there. I want to fight as soon as I can. Even when I get this little this cleaned up a little bit, I want to be straight back in there.” After such a bold message from Volkanovski, fans will be waiting for a response from Ilia Topuria.

What is your take on the situation? Do let us know in the comments below.