With the news of the Octagon’s return to Sydney, Alexander Volkanovski already has a concrete date for his return. Speaking to the media on Australian soil, the former Featherweight champion revealed his desire to compete at UFC 312. “I’m gonna do whatever it takes to make sure I’m on that [UFC 312] card,” Volkanovski told MMA Fighting. But while everyone thought he would only accept a title or an interim title fight, it seems like the Australian is even ready to face a new challenge. So, who is it? Well, it’s none other than Alex Pereira.

During a Q&A session on his YouTube channel, the former UFC featherweight champion was asked whether he would go for a fight against Alex Pereira. While many expected the answer would be a straight ‘No,’ ‘Volk’ stunned everyone by stating that he would indeed go for the fight. “Would I fight Alex Pereira? Money talks, mate; money talks. You’d do it? Of course, you would, cause you would get some good coin for that.”

However, Alexander Volkanovski is also aware of his weaknesses. He claimed that he wouldn’t be taking down ‘Poatan’ via strikes, so he would have to rely on his ground game instead. “Imagine having to step up and fight that monster… I could see myself being like, All right, let’s do it. I’m hanging onto a leg, you know what I mean? I’m a confident guy, but I ain’t going to stand there with that bloke. Let’s be real; I’m going to try to hang on to the legs and try and find that takedown. Because if you don’t, you’re going to be in for some hurtin’ that’s for sure.”

It looks like the UFC has a possible fight on their hands now. Even if he doesn’t fight Alex Pereira, the challenge by Diego Lopes still stands for the featherweight. But this Pereira challenge surely did excite many fans. So, as expected, it didn’t take time for many to light up the comment section with some very interesting thoughts.

Alexander Volkanovski leaves fans stunned

Alexander Volkanovski is coming off brutal KO defeats at the hands of Islam Makhachev, lightweight champion, and Ilia Topuria, the new 145-pound champion, between October 2023 and February of this year. Despite this, he is willing to go against a “monster” like Alex Pereira. This attitude of the former featherweight champion stunned fans. As a result, they took to the comments to praise his ‘never refuse a fight’ attitude, as they wrote, “Volkanovski would fight Jones if the UFC asked him to. “Volk is the definition of I will fight anybody.” “Volk down to fight anyone,” and, “I think Volk doesn’t have the capacity to fear anyone 🥹 He would really fight Pereira.”

However, Alexander Volkanovski isn’t the only fighter who accepts a random or short-notice fight. In 2024, Alex Pereira defended his UFC lightweight throne thrice. ‘Poatan’ earned himself a reputation as the go-to man for Dana White to save any UFC PPV. So, it didn’t take long for fans to realize this tendency to accept short notice fights in both fighters, as they pointed it out in the comments by saying, “Alex and Alex step in short notice UFC 311,” and “Both of them would take the fight on two weeks notice.”

Despite agreeing to the fight, fans are aware that Alex Pereira is definitely the much larger man between the two. And if there is an unspoken truth in the UFC, it is the fact that ‘size matters’ in mixed martial arts. Seeing ‘Volk’ accept the fight against a much larger man really made several fans chuckle, so much so that they actually took to the comments to let their thoughts be known. They wrote, “10-inch height difference and about a 70 lb weight difference,” and “Poatan is like a whole foot taller than him 😂.” It seems like fans surely are interested in the idea of the fight. Do you believe the UFC should turn it into a real bout? Let us know in the comments.