LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - Ilia Topuria, the top-ranked Featherweight contender, is still considered easy going by Alexander Volkanovski.

Volkanovski successfully defended his Featherweight title last night (Saturday, July 8, 2023) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. He went on an incredible clinic, shredding Yair Rodriguez and stopping the Mexican standout in the third round via technical knockout (see highlights).

Volkanovski admitted to Joe Rogan that he requires shoulder surgery after his most recent stoppage victory, but he downplayed the treatment during the UFC 290 post-fight press conference (see here) and said he'll return as soon as possible.

“I mean, I didn’t mean to scare everyone with that,” Volkanovski told reporters. “When I say I’m going to do that, it’s not a big deal. I’ll be back in ASAP. It will be a quick one — just need to get something sorted. But, I’ll be training a lot.”

Who is next after his dominance of Rodriguez quickly arose.

Volkanovski knows there is another advancing Featherweight challenger known as  “champ-champ.” who wants his 145-pound title chance, but he definitely wants to run it back with Islam Makhachev to attempt to become a "champ-champ."

In fact, Volkanovski sees a fight with Topuria as an opportunity for a quick payout.

“It’s funny with this one. You want to talk up your opponents, right?” Volkanovski told reporters. “I mean, he’s going talk his s—t. I can say whatever I want to, you know, people don’t have to believe it, but ... maybe I shouldn’t say how easy I think that fight is going to be.

“Because then people might not be interested, but he’s going to talk his s—t, and people are going to want to see me punch him in the face, so it don’t matter,” Volkanovski continued. “But, I look at that [fight] as again, no disrespect to the bloke, but the s—t he is doing ain’t going to work on me, and hopefully, you’ll get to see that soon.”

Topuria recently defeated Josh Emmett in five rounds at UFC Jacksonville, earning him a matchup with Volkanovski for later this year or early next.

Volkanovski and Topuria faced off as the champion left the cage last night and “The Great” thought his potential opponent would be ... a little taller?