If you missed UFC 308 last night, undefeated Spanish-Georgian sensation Ilia Topuria scored an incredible third-round knockout in the first official defense of his featherweight world title.
Former champion Alexander Volkanovski sat cageside for the outstanding featherweight title bout, and it’s safe to say that ‘The Great’ Australian is pumped for his long-awaited rematch with the now 16-0 superstar.
Alexander Volkanovski open to rematching Ilia Topuria in ‘Sydney or Spain’
Only a few hours after the UFC 308 main event came to its dramatic conclusion, former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski would share his immediate reaction to the main event knockout.
“Ilia looked impressive; it was a pretty competitive fight… I thought once it got to the third round, you would start to see him slow down a little bit, but he stuck to it and ended up finding the finish – pretty impressive.
“Unfortunate for Max, I thought Max was still looking good doing his thing, he looked pretty comfortable in there, but he got caught [and] that’s the game.”
Following their brief face-off in the octagon, we can assume that the UFC will be looking to book Volkanovski vs Topuria 2 for early 2025 – but where that title rematch takes place remains to be seen.
On one hand, UFC 312 has been confirmed for February in Australia; on the other, the promotion is desperate to host its first-ever event in Spain with Topuria as the star attraction.
“Ilia – congratulations, impressive, I’ll see you wherever, Madrid? We can do Madrid early next year,” teased Volkanovski, adding how “Sydney is definitely next year so that’s a date that we know we can do… That would be perfect, but we’ll see what happens.”
Interestingly, he would also later admit that whilst he’d much prefer to rematch Topuria ‘down under’, the temptation of headlining the first-ever UFC Spain card is growing on him.
“Look man, I’ll be honest, I love Sydney, and I want to fight in Sydney, but Madrid sounds good too… As long as I’m not waiting too long, that’s the big problem for me.
“I’d love for him to have his moment in Spain… Hopefully we’re not waiting years for it, that’s the only problem. If they could get that done as soon as possible, he deserves it.”
Did Volkanovski take anything away from UFC 308 that he can use in the rematch?
Should the UFC book Volkanovski vs Topuria 2 for early 2025 in either Sydney or Spain, ‘El Matador’ will likely enter that rematch as the betting favorite – but did Volkanovski learn anything at UFC 308 that he could potentially implement next time?
“Nah man, we know that he’s got good hands, just don’t let him land any those big shots, you know what I mean – that’s just how it is,” laughed the popular featherweight, before acknowledging that he has indeed taken something away from Topuria’s viral finish.
“You’re going to have to fight your fight, he’s going to land but at the same time, he’s there to be hit too – without giving too much away, he’s happy to land bombs, but he’s happy to be in the range where he can eat some as well.
“Last time, I didn’t fight my fight, this time I’m going to fight my fight; I know that he’s got power in his hands but I’m best when I fight my fight – I’m going to take it to him and land those big punches first.”
Whilst Ilia Topuria has stated that Volkanovski will be getting that title rematch next, he also warned the former featherweight champion not to overstep the mark.
“Right now, he’s gonna have to wait for my time. Right now, I’m the one who chooses the time and place. I choose everything. I’m the champion and he’s the challenger… I respect him and he deserves the shot, no one else deserves the shot [more] than Volk.”
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