Volkanovski earned his 21st consecutive professional triumph at UFC 273 this past Saturday, dominating Chan Sung Jung en route to a fourth-round stoppage at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. The 33-year-old Aussie is 11-0 in UFC competition, with four victories in title bouts to his credit, and his resume includes triumphs over the likes of Jung, Brian Ortega, Max Holloway (twice), Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes.
“Standout fight [at UFC 273], Volkanovski, of course,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “The G.O.A.T. The featherweight G.O.A.T. Yeah, I’m hyped right now. I haven’t even had breakfast, I couldn’t eat because my adrenaline’s been running. Volkanovski, I said it was going to be bad. It was bad.”
Adesanya and Volkanovski, of course, both have ties to City Kickboxing. That doesn’t diminish the accomplishments of the featherweight champion, who currently sits behind Kamaru Usman at No. 2 in Sherdog’s pound-for-pound rankings. And Volkanovski owns victories over Holloway and Aldo, the other two fighters usually mentioned in featherweight G.O.A.T discussions.
A trilogy with Holloway could be in store for Volkanovski, because his second triumph over the Hawaiian was quite controversial. However, Volkanovski vs. Holloway was scheduled for UFC 272 before Holloway was forced to pull out of the event due to injury. At Saturday’s post-fight press conference, Volkanovski expressed an interest in moving to 155 pounds for a shot at the winner of Charles Oliveira vs. Justin Gaethje at UFC 274 next month.
“I’m in a position where I can do a couple of things, and if this division doesn’t want to sort itself out and they’re all going to sit back and f—ing wait for s—t, then fine – I’ll move up and fight lightweight,” Volkanovski said. “I’m an easy champ to understand: Take that No. 1 spot, you get that shot. If not, let’s move up. I think we’re in a good position to move up, maybe see what happens in this lightweight division title fight, and maybe move up. Because again, I’m showing I’m levels ahead in this division. Maybe we move up.”