Volkanovski pitches lightweight title superfight with Gaethje as a double retirement send-off
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski has pitched a superfight against lightweight champion Justin Gaethje, with the lightweight title on the line, as a way for both fighters to retire. Volkanovski made the comments on the "Who The Fook Are These Guys?" podcast, and the story was covered on October 15 by MMA Fighting, MMA Mania and Heavy. It is a fighter's proposal only: no fight has been booked or announced by the UFC.
What Volkanovski said
According to the reports, Volkanovski said: "Let's do a superfight, lightweight title on the line and then we can both" say goodbye. The Australian also argued that the lightweight division could sort itself out afterwards. MMA Fighting framed the idea as a "crazy" superfight while the divisions settle.
Volkanovski also noted that Gaethje has been asking what the point of rematches is, which in the Australian's view makes a one-off superfight the more appealing option. Neither Gaethje nor the UFC has responded publicly in the sources we read.
Where both champions stand
Volkanovski is 28-4 and holds the UFC featherweight title. Our database ranks the champion second in the men's pound-for-pound list. The Australian last fought on January 31, winning a five-round decision over Diego Lopes at UFC 325 in their second meeting.
The idea depends on the next fight. Volkanovski defends the belt against the unbeaten Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 on October 24, and the Gaethje pitch is described as the follow-up if the Australian wins. Heavy reports that Evloev is 20-0 overall and 10-0 in the UFC, so the title defence is a real test.
Gaethje is 28-5 and ranked third pound for pound in our database. The American last fought on June 14 at UFC Freedom 250, where he stopped Ilia Topuria by technical knockout in round four to keep the lightweight title. Before that, Gaethje beat Paddy Pimblett by decision at UFC 324 in January.
What comes next
Gaethje has not said whether to keep fighting or step away. According to Yahoo Sports, which carried the Heavy report, Gaethje is likely to meet top contender Arman Tsarukyan next year if a return happens. That would put the superfight in competition with a more conventional title defence.
Volkanovski has previously challenged for a lightweight title, losing to Islam Makhachev by first-round knockout at UFC 294 in October 2023, so a fight at 155 pounds would be a return to a weight class where the Australian has already fought for the belt. The other recent loss in our records came against Topuria at UFC 298 in February 2024, at featherweight.
For now the next real step is October 24. If Volkanovski gets past Evloev, the question will be whether the UFC sees a double retirement superfight as a fight worth making.
Sources
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This article was generated with AI and may contain errors.