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UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is looking to make his comeback in early 2024. The Australian star has been sidelined since his impressive TKO win over Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 in July. That victory erased the memory of his controversial defeat to Islam Makhachev in February, which many fans thought he won.
Volkanovski, who goes by the nickname ‘The Great’, has not announced his next opponent yet. He had expressed interest in moving up to lightweight and challenging Makhachev, but the Russian fighter is already scheduled to face Charles Oliveira in October. He also considered a potential superfight with bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, but Sterling lost his belt to Sean O’Malley in August.
On X, Volkanovski took to social media to tease his fans about his return date. He posted a message saying “January sounds good to me!” without revealing any details about the event or the opponent. However, many observers believe that he will face Ilia Topuria, the rising contender from Georgia.
Topuria, who is known as ‘El Matador’, has been calling out Volkanovski for a while. He earned his shot at the title with a dominant decision win over Josh Emmett in June. He has a perfect record of 14-0 and has shown impressive skills in striking and grappling.
Volkanovski was initially not interested in fighting Topuria, but he changed his mind after Makhachev was booked. He said that Topuria was a worthy challenger and that he would give him a tough fight. He also said that he wanted to stay active and defend his belt as often as possible.
The UFC has not confirmed the fight yet, but it seems like a logical matchup for both fighters.