Volkanovski finishes undefeated Evloev at UFC 333 and calls for retirement superfight with Gaethje

Alexander Volkanovski delivered one of the finest performances of his career at UFC 333 on Saturday in Abu Dhabi, finishing the previously undefeated Movsar Evloev in the main event to further cement his status as the featherweight GOAT.

“Very happy,” Volkanovski said at the post-fight press conference. “I wouldn’t mind watching it back, but to get a finish over an undefeated prospect like that — again, he’s a great fighter, but I just knew that I had the skills to make it very hard for him. I wanted to get the finish, I believed I could get the finish, and here we are. We got it.”

With the win behind him, Volkanovski wasted little time turning his attention to what he wants next: a retirement superfight against lightweight champion Justin Gaethje. It would be Volkanovski’s third attempt to claim the 155-pound title, having fallen short in two previous bids, but UFC CEO Dana White has acknowledged that the promotion would be hard-pressed to deny him given his accomplishments.

Volkanovski laid out a framework he believes makes the fight fair to everyone involved. “I’m an honest guy. I want it to be fair,” he said. “A lot of times I’m like, I don’t want to hold divisions up. But I believe we could do this and not hold the division up. Whether it’s both our retirement fight and put it on the line — which would be cool, little bit of a superfight, 38-year-olds going at it — and then we’ll leave it all and let all the young fellas sort themselves out.”

The featherweight champion was unequivocal about what such an opportunity would mean to him. “That’s something I would retire for. So if they wanted to give me that opportunity, I would retire. Win or lose, retire; then it’s vacant, so I’m not holding the division up.”

Volkanovski also made clear that Gaethje is not the only path. Should Arman Tsarukyan — widely regarded as the rightful next challenger for the lightweight title — beat Gaethje and claim the belt, Volkanovski is equally keen on that matchup.

“One hundred percent. Definitely,” Volkanovski said of a potential fight with Tsarukyan. “The only problem for me is just, I don’t want to — I’ve always been the guy that was like, ‘You need to earn it.’ I believe I’ve earned it, but at the same time, there’s so many people in that division that have earned it as well. So, if I can do this and not hold the division up, I’d love it. Let’s do it. And that would be a great fight; Arman’s a great fighter.”

For now, Volkanovski says he is taking each fight as it comes, but the message from Abu Dhabi was unmistakable: one more shot at lightweight gold, on his own terms, is the fight he wants to end his career on.