Alexander Volkanovski says he would retire and vacate the UFC featherweight title for a “superfight” against Justin Gaethje, hours after defending his belt against Movsar Evloev at UFC 333.
The 38-year-old Australian floated the idea after his second-round TKO of the previously unbeaten Evloev in Abu Dhabi, first in an interview with Main Event and again at his post-fight press conference, Fox Sports reported.
“I’m an honest guy and I want it to be fair,” Volkanovski said at the press conference.
“A lot of times I’m like, ‘I don’t want to hold the divisions up’ but if I believe we can do this and not hold the divisions up, whether it’s both our retirement fights and put it all on the line, it’d be cool. A little bit of a superfight.
“38-year-olds going at it and just leave it all. That’s something I’d retire for. If they wanted to give me that opportunity, I would retire — a win or lose retire and then vacate.”
Volkanovski’s message to Gaethje
Speaking to Main Event, Volkanovski said he hadn’t heard Gaethje say anything about the idea. “Obviously he’s enjoying himself, doing his thing. I don’t want to disrupt him too much,” he said.
“But hey, if you are thinking of doing something like that, if we wanted to retire together, superfight, have a bit of fun, let the divisions do their thing, we can go save the last dance with each other and get stuck into it. Super fight to end the careers, I’ll do it.”
Gaethje, 37, has not officially retired, but Fox Sports noted he has been adamant he has nothing left to prove, with his management seeking legacy-enhancing fights.
Read more: Alexander Volkanovski Stops Evloev to Retain UFC Featherweight Title
Volkanovski fought while unwell
Volkanovski also revealed he had been sick in the lead-up to the fight. “Yeah, a little crook, but it’s alright,” he told Main Event. “It comes with the job – when I started getting crook, I was like ‘oh well, things were going too perfect’.”
Dana White: ‘The guy is an absolute stud’
UFC boss Dana White said before UFC 333 that he would be “very supportive” of a Volkanovski-Gaethje fight if both men were willing, according to Fox Sports. After the event, he heaped praise on the featherweight champion.
“The guy is an absolute stud,” White said at his press conference. “Coming in and beating an undefeated, younger (man) … Volkanovski is incredible. He was the aggressive fighter, he was the one really going after him (Evloev) and trying to finish.”
Volkanovski finished Evloev at 4:54 of the second round with ground and pound, MMA Fighting reported, ending the Russian’s 20-fight unbeaten run. In his post-fight interview, he said he had kept a promise to his wife. “It feels good to get a finish – I actually promised the missus, it was our wedding anniversary on Wednesday, I promised her a quick one so she wasn’t stressing on the sideline, so there you go,” he said, Nine reported.
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