Alexander Volkanovski would retire 'win or lose' after a Justin Gaethje super fight

The featherweight champion said he would vacate his belt after the fight, and Dana White said there is not much the UFC would refuse him.

Alexander Volkanovski says a super fight with UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje is "something I would retire for", and that he would walk away and give up the featherweight title whatever the result.

Volkanovski was speaking at the UFC 333 post-fight press conference in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, after stopping Movsar Evloev in the second round to keep his featherweight title. He said he did not want to hold up a division, but believed the Gaethje fight could happen without doing so.

"Again, whether it's both our retirement fight and just, you know, put it on the line, which would be cool, a little bit of a super fight," he said. "And 38-year-olds just going at it and then just, you know, then we'll leave it all and let all the young fellas sort themselves out."

He added: "That's something I would retire for. So if they wanted to give me that opportunity, I'll retire, like win or lose, retire." He said he would then vacate the title so the featherweight division was not held up. Without that fight, Volkanovski said, he would be "taking each fight as it goes".

UFC boss Dana White was asked at the same press conference whether he would be open to Volkanovski moving up to lightweight. "I think when you've accomplished what he's accomplished, there's not much we're going to say no to with him," White said. "So we'll see how, you know, see how this whole thing plays out."

Later in the press conference Volkanovski said it was rare to have the UFC president "sitting there saying, we'll give him pretty much whatever he wants", but added: "I just feel like I'm not that guy to take advantage of that because I don't want to hold divisions, but I want to do it the right way. So we'll see what happens."

Volkanovski pitched a joint retirement fight with Gaethje in the days before UFC 333. Gaethje became undisputed lightweight champion at UFC Freedom 250 in June.

READ NEXTAlexander Volkanovski stops Movsar Evloev in round two to keep UFC featherweight titleRead the next story →

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