Alexander Volkanovski still wants a UFC lightweight title shot, and if Justin Gaethje isn’t around to give him one, he already knows who he wants across the cage. Speaking Wednesday on The Ariel Helwani Show, the featherweight champion pitched Arman Tsarukyan as the alternative for a 155-pound belt, Yahoo Sports reported.
“If Gaethje doesn’t want to do that, I’ll do it,” Volkanovski said. “Me versus Arman for the belt. That excites me.”
The problem is Gaethje himself. The current lightweight champion hasn’t decided whether he’ll fight again or retire, which leaves Volkanovski’s preferred plan in limbo. His fix is to run two title fights in parallel: Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett against each other, with Volkanovski and Tsarukyan on the other side of the bracket, and the winners meeting after. Volkanovski said Topuria and Pimblett had already fought for titles, so in his view Tsarukyan is the one who’s earned the shot. “I think we’re starting to figure some s*** out,” he said.
This all comes days after Volkanovski’s win over Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Evloev came in undefeated and left with his first loss, stopped by strikes in Round 2. At his post-fight press conference, Volkanovski said a lightweight title was the last big item on his list and that he’d retire after that fight, win or lose. He’s less certain that retirement promise holds if the opponent is Tsarukyan instead of Gaethje. Either way, he said he’d at least vacate the featherweight title if either fight comes together.
His history at 155 is the obvious counterpoint. Volkanovski lost both of his 2023 title fights against Islam Makhachev, the second on short notice, though he pushed Makhachev hard in the first one despite the size gap. Makhachev has since moved up and won welterweight gold. Tsarukyan is a different kind of grappling problem, and Volkanovski isn’t pretending otherwise. He called Tsarukyan one of the best wrestlers and grapplers in the UFC, then promised he’d keep getting up. “You ain’t holding me down. Even Arman,” he said, adding that Tsarukyan’s stand-up would make it a fun fight.
If Volkanovski stays at 145, the line is getting crowded. Jean Silva has back-to-back wins and is closer than ever to a first UFC title shot. Former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling meets Kevin Vallejos at UFC Qatar on Nov. 21, and a win would push Sterling’s featherweight streak to three. Volkanovski said Sterling would deserve the shot more than Silva with another win, and that Silva should wait to see how that fight plays out.
He was also candid about why he’s still competing at 38. He pointed to the money, saying he’ll never see paychecks like this again, and then to his health and his kids. “One hard knock to the brain, a concussion, and that’s that,” he said.
My take: Tsarukyan is the harder fight and the better one. Gaethje is a stand-up war Volkanovski can plan around. Tsarukyan chains his wrestling into his scrambles, and he’s going to force Volkanovski to win the getups, over and over, against a bigger man. That’s exactly the test that the first Makhachev fight said Volkanovski could pass for stretches. I’d want to see it before Gaethje vs. Volkanovski, frankly. Watch Nov. 21 in Qatar, because Sterling vs. Vallejos may decide who’s waiting for the vacated featherweight belt.
