Alexander Volkanovski has doubled down on his offer to be the replacement opponent for Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler.
McGregor is set to return to the Octagon for the first time in three years against Chandler in the main event of UFC 303 on June 29 in Las Vegas.
Volkanovski is willing to step in for McGregor vs Chandler despite the fight taking place two weight classes above his natural weightCredit: Getty
However, fans have raised concerns that the fight may get cancelled after McGregor and Chandler’s launch press conference at Dublin’s 3Arena on Monday was called off hours before it was set to take place.
Former UFC featherweight champion Volkanovski recently expressed his desire to step in for Chandler on short notice if he was for any reason unable to make the McGregor fight.
But he now appears to be willing to do the same for the Irishman judging from his recent social media activity.
On Tuesday night as rumours swirled that McGregor could be out of his clash with Chandler, Volkanovski shared several memes to his Instagram story that suggested he would step in on short notice.
One was captioned: “If Conor can’t make UFC 303, I know a guy…” with a video of Volkanovski making the walk to the cage.
This comes after the Aussie MMA fighter told The AllStar last week: “You find me an exciting fight, maybe in the lightweight division, or something like that, that’s fun.
“I don’t want to wait too long, I mean I’ve told myself I wouldn’t do it but to capitalise on a massive opportunity because I know featherweight is going to be there, against Conor McGregor I still probably would, you just put that scenario there, maybe I will.”
Volkanovski is no stranger to stepping in to save cards on short notice.
McGregor and Chandler are set to square off on June 29 but fans fear the worst after their press conference was cancelledCredit: Getty
Volkanovski shared several mems to his Instagram story as concerns grow for the UFC 303 main eventCredit: Instagram – Alexander Volkanovski
The 35-year-old accepted a call to fight UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev on 11 days’ notice after Charles Oliviera pulled out of the UFC 298 main event.
Volkanonvski had lost a narrow decision to the Russian in their previous outing back in February 2023 but was blasted out in the opening stanza when they rematched eight months later.
He went on to lose his UFC featherweight title via second-round knockout to Ilia Topuria in his next fight and now finds himself in limbo.
Shortly after losing his second straight stoppage loss, Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel: “I’m gonna let the head rest so the training’s gonna be clever, especially for a couple of months.
“Depending on what Ilia does, if he was to want to be very active and fight soon, which would mean my rematch would be rushed, alright, I’m happy to be like, ‘If you’re gonna be that active, I’m gonna have to wait.’
“I know my next fight is definitely gonna be for the title and the rematch but if he was to go somewhere else because he’d want to be active, which I would be more than okay with.
“Obviously, I’m not gonna do that because of my head, you want to take that serious, but my next fight will definitely 100 percent be the rematch.”
If the Topuria rematch can’t be made next then Volkanovski would surely jump at the opportunity to make big bucks as the replacement opponent for the UFC 303 main event, even if welterweight could prove to be a step too far.