Alexander Volkanovski makes hilarious confession about Diego Lopes and Yair Rodríguez's scuffle at UFC 314 presser: "I might not have an opponent"

Alexander Volkanovski took the time to talk to the UFC's broadcast team following his grueling weight cut to 145 pounds. During the interview, he was asked about the explosive moment between Yair Rodríguez and Diego Lopes at the UFC 314 pre-fight press conference.

The aforementioned featherweights got into a war of words at the pre-fight presser, which culminated in a screaming match. Fortunately, they never came to blows and order was restored. When asked about the incident, Volkanovski could only joke about nearly losing his opponent, Lopes.

"At one point I'm just like, 'Look, don't fight each other. If someone gets injured I might not have an opponent,' so I was, as you could see, I was on standby. At the start I was like, 'Ah.' I could see nothing would happen, but they end up having another chat after, I don't know if you've seen their second little altercation they sort of had. Not altercation, but words are had, they got a bit closer, so I'm like, 'I better make sure nothing happens,' because I wanna make sure I got a dance partner tomorrow night."

Check out Alexander Volkanovski's thoughts on the Yair Rodríguez vs. Diego Lopes scuffle:

However, it wasn't the argument at the press conference that gave Volkanovski cause for concern. Instead, a second, largely unseen confrontation between Rodríguez and Lopes is what alarmed him, as if he feared that their tension could soon turn physical, prompting him to stand by on the sidelines.

Fortunately for Volkanovski and the UFC as a whole, nothing more came out of a combustible situation.

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Alexander Volkanovski is linked to both men

While Alexander Volkanovski is currently scheduled to take on Diego Lopes in the UFC 314 main event, he has previous experience with Yair Rodríguez. Following an unsuccessful attempt at dethroning Islam Makhachev as the lightweight champion, Volkanovski returned to featherweight to defend his then belt.

Check out Alexander Volkanovski TKO'ing Yair Rodríguez:

At the time, Rodríguez was the division's interim champion, and the pair unified the titles at UFC 290. It was a largely dominant affair for Volkanovski, who outwrestled and outstruck Rodríguez across three rounds before TKO'ing him for the finish.