Fighters lose in Abu Dhabi and then blame Abu Dhabi. It happens often enough that nobody would have blinked if Alexander Volkanovski had done the same after his rematch loss to Islam Makhachev. The travel, the setting, a building full of people who came for the other guy: those excuses are always available. According to MMA Sucka, Volkanovski won’t use any of them. He doesn’t blame Abu Dhabi.
That sounds like a small thing. I’d argue it’s the most important thing he’s said all month, because everything else he said this week only works if you believe him on this point.
The ask only makes sense if he owns the loss
Look at what came next. In an interview with Ariel Helwani, flagged by Championship Rounds on X, Volkanovski laid out a plan that would make most featherweight champions nervous just hearing it:
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“I’ll vacate the featherweight belt and fight Arman for the title. There it is.”
He means Arman Tsarukyan, and the plan depends on Justin Gaethje retiring. “If I was champion at lightweight, I’m fighting Arman. 100%. If Gaethje doesn’t wanna [fight Arman], I’ll do it. That excites me.”
Picture that same pitch coming from a man who had spent the previous week complaining about the venue for his Makhachev loss. It would sound like someone hunting for a softer path back to a big night at 155, a guy who wants another crack at lightweight while keeping one foot outside the door marked accountability. Coming from someone who has put the loss on himself, the pitch reads differently. It sounds like a competitor who got beaten, looked at why, and still wants the hardest available fight in the division above him.
In fight culture, credibility gets spent and earned in small moments like this. Coaches hear it in the gym every day. The kid who blames the mat, the ref, the warmup room never gets better, because he’s never actually lost anything. Volkanovski losing to Makhachev and saying the fault sits with him is the version of that conversation you want from a champion.
Bisping sees the contrast, and so does Prates
Michael Bisping noticed. In a clip shared by Dovy on X, the former middleweight champion praised Volkanovski and took a shot at the man who beat him:
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“He’s a fighter’s fighter [on Volk]. He steps up. He stays busy. He’s not one of these guys doing an Islam, fighting once a year and then picking and choosing who he fights and letting contenders face one another.”
That’s Bisping’s read on Makhachev, and it’s a pundit’s line built for a clip. But the contrast he’s drawing is the same one Volkanovski is drawing with his own words. Carlos Prates went further this week, responding to Ali Abdelaziz on X by saying that if Makhachev fought for passion he’d take on the No. 1 contender in January. Prates also said he would finish Makhachev’s legacy, and predicted that Makhachev would end up making him look great.
So the week’s chatter about Makhachev centers on who he will and won’t fight. The week’s chatter from Volkanovski centers on who he wants to fight next, and the answer keeps being whoever is hardest.
He’s done this before
None of this is new for him. Happy Punch posted footage this week of Volkanovski on a fight day while he was dealing with a chest infection, and his response was pure Volk:
“I’m sick, but the fight would be too easy if I felt too good anyway.”
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That line tells you how he thinks about conditions. They’re part of the fight. You show up, you deal with them, and if they beat you, then you didn’t deal with them well enough. A fighter who talks like that on fight day doesn’t get to turn around and blame a city after a loss, and to his credit, he hasn’t.
He’s also keeping a list. Talking with Brett Okamoto, per Championship Rounds, he said he’d take an Ilia Topuria rematch before he retires, with one condition. “That would be great too. If it’s gonna be for a lightweight title then yea.” He followed it with “To get that win back would be great. I’m a competitor and I’d love to test myself against him.”
Notice where every one of these fights lives. Tsarukyan for a lightweight title. Topuria, if it’s for a lightweight title. His future, as he describes it, sits at 155, and he’s chasing it with the featherweight belt as the thing he’s willing to give up.
That’s a big swing for a man coming off a loss to the best lightweight of this era. Some people will call it delusion. I’d call it consistent. He’s the same guy who joked about a chest infection making the fight more interesting, and now he’s the guy who won’t blame Abu Dhabi for losing to Makhachev. The excuse was sitting right there for him, and he left it alone and went back to naming the people he wants to fight. Arman Tsarukyan is at the top of that list, and Volkanovski has already told Helwani the price he’d pay to get there: the featherweight belt.
