Alexander Volkanovski Interested in Lightweight Bout Against Dustin Poirier

Alexander Volkanovski is exploring side hustles at lightweight while he awaits another shot at the featherweight title.

Islam Makhachev successfully defended his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier via fifth-round submission in the main event at UFC 302 on Saturday. Poirier subsequently hinted that he might call it a career in the aftermath of the defeat.

However, Volkanovski hasn’t completely given up hope of Poirier competing again. The former featherweight champ called for a lightweight clash against “The Diamond” while he awaits another shot at the 145-pound strap.

“Maybe, just maybe, depending on what I’m doing and when, obviously I want to fight later in the year… I don’t want to wait too long, either. So, if the timing works, maybe me and Dustin maybe we can have a good fight,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “I don’t know, he sort of just wants good, fun fights. Obviously, we have a lot of respect for each other. And I think that’ll be a massive fight.

“So that’s something that I’ll be willing to do while I’m waiting for that featherweight title. Maybe a lightweight fight against someone like Dustin Poirier will be great. So you heard it here first, maybe we can make something happen. Dustin, you’re a legend, keep your head up, that was a great performance still and maybe we can have a little fun in there, have a little dance, let me know what you think.”

Volkanovski went toe-to-toe against Makhachev in their first meeting, losing a unanimous decision in a lightweight title bid at UFC 284 in February 2023. “The Great” bounced back with a knockout win over Yair Rodriguez this past July and went on accept a short-notice rematch against Makhachev, replacing Charles Oliveira. Volkanovski suffered a vicious head kick knockout against the lightweight champ at UFC 294 in October 2023. The Australian then lost his featherweight title to Ilia Topuria via second-round knockout at UFC 298 this past February, making him 1-3 in his last four outings.