Alexander Volkanovski calls for rematch after UFC 298 loss: ‘I’ve been a company man’

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Alexander Volkanovski gives all the credit in the world to new UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, but he wants another go.

Saturday at Honda Center, the long-reigning titleholder Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) was knocked out by Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in the UFC 298 main event, but was in an upbeat mood as he spoke to reporters backstage at a post-fight news conference.

“He caught me,” Volkanovski told MMA Junkie and others. “That’s that. I felt good in there. I felt like I saw everything early, but he ended up catching me. I was pretty comfortable in the first round. Then we started to do more. I was just about to do more and he caught me. That’s just the game. I’m pretty confident we were probably even up through then, but that’s just the game.”