Alexander Volkanovski has heard the noise of retirement whispers. Even talk of one more climb up to lightweight glory. But as the UFC calendar fills up and the title picture at 155 pounds gets messy, the reigning featherweight champion has finally drawn a clean line between what fans want to imagine and what he actually believes he’s earned.

The speculation picked up steam because of timing. Volkanovski is set to headline UFC 325 in Sydney against Diego Lopes, fighting at home in Australia. Add in his age, and a crowded lightweight division missing its undisputed champion, and the narrative almost writes itself. Is this the beginning of the end? Or the setup for one last gamble at two-division history? That’s where a recent conversation with Ariel Helwani changed the tone entirely.

Alexander Volkanovski shuts down talks of moving up to lightweight

During an interview clip shared by Championship Rounds on X, Helwani put a very specific scenario to Alexander Volkanovski. With Paddy Pimblett fighting Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight belt at UFC 324, ‘The Baddy’ had recently floated Volkanovski as a possible future opponent at 155.

According to ‘The Great’, “Yeah, I’ve seen that. I mean, if it’s offered to me, of course I’m going to, you know, I’ll fight for the lightweight title. But I mean, as everyone knows, I’m pretty real with everything right now. It’s like, do I deserve a shot at the lightweight title, already, you know what I mean?”

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That question did most of the heavy lifting. Volkanovski answered it himself just as bluntly, “Like right now… no. I know I don’t.” There was no bitterness in his voice. Just honesty. He explained that he isn’t planning on chasing another belt in the next “two, three years” and that to truly deserve a lightweight title shot, he’d need “another two, three wins” first.

After all, he already chased lightweight gold twice and came up short against Islam Makhachev. Those losses didn’t erase his greatness, but they seem to have recalibrated his outlook.

Yet, Alexander Volkanovski left one door slightly open, joking that if the UFC called on “11 days’ notice” because someone got injured, he’d show up without hesitation. So where does retirement fit into all this?

‘The Great’ is not ready to leave his gloves inside the Octagon just yet

That’s exactly what Ariel Helwani tried to untangle in the same interview, laying out how the narrative seemed to snowball without Volkanovski’s input. Other fighters were weighing in. Fans were speculating. Some had already labeled his upcoming fight a ‘retirement fight.’  But Alexander Volkanovski? He looked genuinely puzzled by it.

He said, “Yeah, I don’t know where that came from exactly. Obviously, I guess, whether people are just going off what I say, like I’m like, how many more do I have? You know, if I was to get beaten up, am I going to come back to fight? No, you know what I mean? But that’s not my plan, know, unless something, you know, things go horrendously wrong.”

So, what is the plan? In his words, it’s simple. “I’m planning on going back out there,” potentially against “an undefeated fighter in the UFC.” He even admitted that kind of challenge is “appealing.” Could that be the fight he eventually finishes on? Maybe. But not now.

According to him, “But right now, I plan on everything going well, getting my hand raised, hopefully taking minimal damage so I can have a quick turnaround and still fighting. So the plan is not definitely to retire. You know what I mean? I don’t know where that comes from.”

As such, if the UFC calls on short notice for a lightweight title shot, he’ll answer. If the wins stack up, he’ll reconsider bigger ambitions. And if the damage adds up, he’ll walk away on his own terms, but for now, Alexander Volkanovski isn’t ready to close this chapter!