The featherweight title fighters brutally thwart Alex Volkanovski’s plans

Alex Volkanovski was hoping to fight for his former title at UFC 312 in Sydney, but the UFC featherweight looks like he’ll have to make other plans.

At a press conference last week in Sydney, the 145-pound star said he wanted to fight the winner of this weekend’s UFC 308 main event when the company returns to Australia on February 9.

Ilia Topuria will look to defend his title for the first time when he takes on Max Holloway in Abu Dhabi, and Volkanovski will be there to take control of everything.

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However, Topuria said this week that Volkanovski’s wish will not come true if he retains his belt.

“Look, if that makes him happy, if he thinks that maybe I would go to Australia, that’s fine. But that will never happen to me,” Topuria said at UFC 308 media day.

“I am the champion and if you want to fight for a title again it has to be in Madrid instead of fighting in Australia in front of your people. Why should I give you this advantage?”

It was a similar message from Holloway’s side, albeit a little less blunt.

“We’ll see what happens,” Holloway said.

“First things first is Ilia and then I promised my boy some time to travel in December. So this could be a quick fix.”

“I have two Australians representing me in my management and I found out what the taxes were over there… I thought, ‘Yeah, okay…’ [laughs]. Yes, Vegas sounds good.”

With those two seemingly off the table for UFC 312 in Sydney, Volkanovski’s only option could be to face up-and-coming Brazilian Diego Lopes.

Following the announcement of the UFC 312 pay-per-view, Lopes took to social media to reiterate his interest.

“February sounds good to me,” Lopes wrote.

Volkanovski hinted that he could fight for an interim title next, although it remains to be seen whether the UFC will honor that wish.