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Volk crushes retirement rumours, eyeing off September title defence
Connor Scanlon • June 4th, 2026 11:22 am
Retirement queries have swirled around UFC featherweight champion Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski over the past couple of years, but the Aussie champ has confirmed yet again that laying down the gloves isn’t a focus for him at the moment.
After defeating Brazilian gun Diego Lopes in impressive fashion at UFC 325 back in February, the 37-year-old shut down any retirement rumours at the time.
Now, on SEN Breakfast, Volk announced that while he is at the back end of his career, if he continues to dominate contenders the way which he tactically broke down Lopes in, without absorbing much damage, then retirement simply isn’t an option for the featherweight champ.
“If I keep going out there, doing what I’m doing (I won’t be retiring),” Volk confirmed.
“Even in the last one (against Lopes), I was able to go out there and have a pretty much a complete shutout, whilst not taking too much damage.
“We'll just keep it rolling, you know what I mean? If I’m not taking any damage, let's see how long we can do this.
“It's obvious that it is the back end of the career (but) no one's really done what I've done at this age, especially in our division. Each fight is massive and pretty much breaking records.
“I love breaking records, so I'll just keep it rolling.”
In fact, Volk confirmed that he will enter a proper training camp in the coming weeks, preparing for a title defence in September.
“I always train all year round; I like to make sure I'm reasonably fit, but we're probably going to start really ramping it up soon,” announced Volk.
“I reckon we're looking maybe around September-ish (for my next title defence).
“Nothing is locked in yet, but that's what it's looking like, so we'll definitely ramp up that training.
“I reckon we'll get some news on exactly when we're fighting while we're over there (in America for Freedom 250), and then we'll get stuck into it.
“As soon as I'm back (from America), we're dialling straight into camp pretty much.”
The reason why Volkanovski is travelling to Washington, D.C., is to corner his teammate, Brazilian lightweight Mauricio Ruffy, in his Freedom 250 bout against American Michael Chandler at the White House.
The Aussie champ explained that he has been developing the ex-Fighting Nerd’s grappling and takedown defence – a glaring vulnerability which Frenchman Benoit Saint-Denis exposed at UFC Paris last September.
The 37-year-old explained that the dynamic striker has taken all of his advice on and looks like a killer ahead of his fight against Chandler.
“I’m there to corner Ruffy,” revealed Volk.
“He’s an incredible fighter, he’s a part of the Engage crew that I’m a part of, that’s how our connection started.
“We did some training with him, he was in camp with us for our last fight (against Lopes), and we fought on the same card.
“We wanted to help (Ruffy) a little bit with some of his ground game and takedown defence – people know (my wrestling credentials) from my first fight with Islam (Makhachev).
“Obviously, they wanted to get into my whole mindset and mentality to training, and they’ve taken it all on board, and he’s absolutely killing it at the moment."
Ruffy is the equal-biggest favourite on the entire White House card, being at $1.14 with Sportsbet to defeat Chandler on June 15.
As for Volk, the featherweight champ is of the belief that his next title defence will be some time around September, and it is rumoured that his opponent will be Movsar Evloev – an undefeated wrestler.
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