Alexander Volkanovski has a farewell fight in mind, and he wants Justin Gaethje across from him when it happens. MMA Junkie published Volkanovski’s explanation of a “double retirement” bout on Monday. The idea is exactly what it sounds like: two veterans share one last night in the Octagon and both walk away when it’s over. It’s a hypothetical for some point down the road, not a booking.
The timing is what makes it interesting. Volkanovski isn’t sitting on the couch dreaming up exits. He has a title defense this Saturday, Oct. 24, against Movsar Evloev in the UFC 333 main event in Abu Dhabi. That’s the most dangerous assignment of his second reign. Evloev is 20-0 as a pro and 10-0 in the UFC since his 2019 debut, with recent wins over Lerone Murphy, Aljamain Sterling, Arnold Allen and Diego Lopes.
Volkanovski has been asking for this fight for roughly two years, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck pointed out. Before Evloev, the UFC gave Volkanovski two title fights against Lopes. Heck called the second booking ridiculous and said the rematch at UFC 325 taught nobody anything.
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The age piece hangs over all of it. MMA Fighting’s Alexander K. Lee noted that Volkanovski will be a few weeks past his 38th birthday on fight night, in a division where veterans tend to get eaten alive. That context explains why a man in the middle of a title run is already describing what his ending could look like.
There’s a lot of history riding on Saturday. According to Jed Meshew’s count, Jose Aldo leads Volkanovski in featherweight title wins 11 to 8. A win over Evloev gets the Australian to nine. Heck argued that a victory would give Volkanovski the UFC record for title fight wins over Aldo and tie Aldo’s title defense record. Either way, it would end the 145-pound GOAT debate for Heck and only start it for Meshew.
Evloev doesn’t intend to be a footnote. He has never finished an opponent in the UFC, and he told MMA Fighting’s José Youngs that this could be the night that changes. “Now, maybe my first finish in my first title fight, why not? I have everything to do that.” Volkanovski has said Evloev’s wrestling won’t carry him through five rounds and that he’ll eventually have to trade. Evloev answered that his plan is to grind the champion until he’s tired and then look for the knockout. “But he’s saying he will take my confidence. Nobody can.”
Volkanovski’s camp seems to be grinding hard too. A clip he shared, which Championship Rounds reposted on X, shows a teammate passing out from exhaustion during one of their training challenges.
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Gaethje has his own odd week going. Arman Tsarukyan used an AI version of him in a skit promoting his coffee brand, which Dovy Simuminas flagged on X Saturday.
I love the concept. Meshew made a point in that MMA Fighting roundtable that I keep thinking about: fighters who hang around past their primes and stack losses tend to get erased, no matter what they built. A pre-agreed final fight is the cleanest protection against that slide, because the curtain is already scheduled. It also guarantees a send-off between two guys with nothing left to save for later. All of that is a problem for another year, though. Saturday’s problem is a 20-0 wrestler who thinks he can drain the champion and then put him away.
