Give the men who earned the shots their shots. That's the whole argument, and everything Alexander Volkanovski said on a podcast this week is built to make you forget it.
His pitch, in his own words: "Let's do a superfight with the lightweight title on the line. We can both see everyone off with a crazy superfight. That could be really good." Volkanovski and Justin Gaethje, two beloved champions, ride off into the sunset together with a belt on the line. Romantic stuff. It also asks two entire divisions to stop spinning so two guys can have a nice night.
Start with the obvious problem. Volkanovski is scheduled to defend his featherweight title against Movsar Evloev, who's 20-0, at UFC 333 on Oct. 24 in Abu Dhabi. That fight hasn't happened yet. He's pitching a lightweight send-off before he's even walked past an undefeated contender in his own weight class. Win that fight first, then we'll talk about your legacy tour.
Now the other half. Gaethje has held the lightweight title since June, when Ilia Topuria's corner stopped their fight after four rounds. Since then he's booked nothing. No date, no opponent signed. He hasn't even said whether he'll fight again instead of retiring. Meanwhile the man who keeps getting told he's next, Arman Tsarukyan, keeps winning and keeps waiting. Gaethje himself has called Tsarukyan "next in line." Volkanovski's plan skips the guy who's actually been promised this fight and hands the champ-versus-champ spectacle to a featherweight instead, while Tsarukyan finds out about it from a podcast clip.
It's a line-jump with a bow on it.
Volkanovski's own history on this exact question makes it worse. Back in June he said, flatly, "I'm not going to call for it. That's the type of champion I am. I think you need to earn it, but if the UFC wants to offer it? Of course." You need to earn it. His words. A few months later he's on a microphone saying "Let's make it happen." The principle lasted exactly as long as it was convenient.
There's a real case for the fight itself: two fan favorites, both near the end, in a bout people would genuinely love to watch before age takes the decision out of their hands. Make it a bragging-rights fight with nothing but pride at stake and I'll buy a ticket. The second you staple a divisional title to it, you've turned a nice idea into a tax on everyone below them.
One more thing. Volkanovski has gone to 155 for a belt twice and lost twice, both against Islam Makhachev, stopped in the rematch. He has never held this title. He wants to contest it as ceremony, skipping the line, against a champion who may not even fight again, while the actual contender sits ranked and ignored.
Earn it or don't get it. He said that himself. He was right the first time.
