Alexander Volkanovski raised the entropy among the fight fans at UFC 314 when he defeated Diego Lopes and became the featherweight champion of the world. This was his first win after losing back-to-back battles against Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria. To make things even more exciting for ‘The Great’, the UFC head honcho, Dana White, provided him with a $50K Fight of the Night bonus for his performance. In the end, the Australian walked out of the cage with the featherweight belt around his waist and his gloves still on his hands. And that was where he upset his wife and kids.

Yes, his family wants him to opt for retirement. ‘The Great’ is already 36 years old. He was on a 22-fight win streak when the former Dagestani champion defeated him at UFC 284. And his family apparently didn’t like that. During a recent conversation with Demetrious Johnson on the ‘Mighty Cast’, he said, “Straight after the fight [at UFC 314], my whole family was like, ‘Why didn’t you put the gloves down in the middle of the Octagon right away?’ They all wanted me to retire.” 

But the question was already out. How much longer did ‘The Great’ want to fight? Was he actually thinking about finally opting for retirement? When ‘Mighty Mouse’ asked the same to the featherweight champion, he replied, “It’s a hard one to talk about, right? I had the two losses, and then I had the [resurgence]. I ain’t looking to do a resurgence ever again. So, if I’m hanging around, it’s because I’m winning. I’m keeping them good paychecks. But I mean, even then, it’s just like, there’s a limit. I know it’s not too far away. I’ll leave it at that.” 

Even if Volkanovski didn’t really confirm anything about his retirement, one thing was certain. There aren’t too many fights left for him in the world of mixed martial arts. And retirement isn’t too far away. But the world has already begun to think about his future after retirement. 

To answer this question, we’d have to take a look at Volkanovski’s cooking page on social media. The featherweight champion has indulged in grilling, baking, and cooking all sorts of things. He even invited other fighters like Israel Adesanya to feature in his videos. And that’s what Mike Perry believed was the perfect option for Volk. Weighing in on the Australian’s post-retirement activities on the Overdogs Podcast, Perry said, “You had some big ups and some hard downs in this sport, and then you won the title again. I’ve been wanting to say—just leave, because you are on top, man. You did it. You went away, you came back, you did it again, and you could just—everyone wants a cookbook.”

According to ‘Platinum’, even an e-cookbook would work. All that the world wanted was to learn about Volkanovski’s cooking. He continued, “You could just grill out in Australia and enjoy, ride off into the sunset. Brother, you did it.” Needless to say, that was something that ‘The Great’ was already hearing a lot. 

Volkanovski responded to the speculation and said, “Yeah man, look, I’m hearing you and it’s you know, I’d be lying to myself if I said I’m going to fight for another ten years, you know what I mean? Like, it’s obviously—we know that it’s not too far away. But I mean, for me, it’s like—I’m set.” He continued, “Like, it’s not like I need to… You know, I’m in a great position, and I’m blessed to be in this position. But at the same time, as I said earlier, you know what I mean? Like, there ain’t… There ain’t— I still know I got some fight left in me.”

It’s crystal clear that Volkanovski doesn’t want to give his featherweight championship belt up this easily. His desires tend to bring him closer to the Octagon with Yair Rodriguez as his next possible opponent. But one this is certain – Alexander Volkanovski is going to retire pretty soon.