Fresh Alexander Volkanovski revelation could provide hint at UFC return date

Alexander Volkanovski could be in line for an October return to the cage due to a combination of personal matters and a reshuffled UFC schedule.

Volkanovski had been linked to a featherweight title defence against Mexico’s Yair Rodriguez in September, at a Mexican-centric pay-per-view at Arena Guadalajara on 13 September.

However, the arena has faced construction issues, meaning the UFC’s ‘Noche’ event will now take place in San Antonio, Texas, and will be a standard Fight Night rather than a pay-per-view. Instead, a pay-per-view will take place on 4 October in Las Vegas.

And that could mark Volkanovski’s return, with the Australian having said September would have proved difficult in any case, due to the expected birth date of his next child.

“What’s next for me? Nothing’s too clear,” Volkanovski told UFC Australia & New Zealand. “There’s a lot of moving parts. Obviously before, I was thinking it’s going to be Movsar [Evloev], but I think he’s fighting. He mentioned him fighting [this summer].

“Hearing Yair’s name getting mentioned a fair bit, just the date of September has... you know... but that’s just probably not the best date. Obviously, I’m having a baby that month, so if we could work around that, that would be better.

“So, we’ll just see what’s happening. Again, a lot of moving parts. We’re planning on having a chat with the boss Dana [White, UFC president] and Hunter [Campbell, UFC CBO] very soon, so we’ll see what’s going on.”

Volanovski, 36, regained the featherweight belt in April, recovering from a knockdown to outpoint Diego Lopes. Volkanovski had previously lost the title in February 2024 after a long reign, suffering a knockout by Ilia Topuria.

Topuria vacated the title this February, however, and is now preparing to fight Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight belt. As such, Volkanovski and Lopes were paired in a clash for the vacant featherweight strap.

Volkanovski’s first reign, which began in December 2019, saw the Aussie retain the belt five times. His final successful title defence in fact came against Rodriguez in July 2023, as Volkanovski dominated and stopped the 32-year-old, who was interim champion at the time.

Many fans have expressed frustration at Rodriguez being linked to another title shot, and against Volkanovski specifically, given the Mexican is only 1-1 since his first bout with “Alexander The Great”.

However, with Topuria leaving the 145lb division and Evloev saying he will not be fighting for the belt next, Rodriguez is seemingly the only viable challenger at the moment.

No 1-ranked Max Holloway is scheduled for a trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier at lightweight in July, and he is expected to stay in that division going forward. Furthermore, Holloway has already fought and lost to Volkanovski three times.