Alexander Volkanovski shares honest take on why Ilia Topuria "deserves" the next crack at Islam Makhachev's title 

Alexander Volkanovski is all geared up for his fight with Diego Lopes at UFC 314 for the featherweight title, which is being vacated by Ilia Topuria. He recently participated in a discussion with Michael Bisping and Paul Felder on the Believe You Me podcast, during which he discussed his views on Topuria fighting Islam Makhachev.

Makhachev has reportedly rejected the idea of battling Topuria next. The Dagestani believes Topuria needs to win one fight at lightweight before he is paired with him.

Volkanovski has fought both Makhachev and Topuria and thinks it's pretty fair for 'El Matador' to move up and immediately challenge for the lightweight belt.

The Australian said:

"The fact that he vacated, I think that's fair. If he wanted to hang on and do the double champ thing, I think he needed to do more work. But the fact that he's like, 'Look, I'm going to let this one go, let that division move on, I want to commit to lightweight,' I think that's big. I think that's fair. So I think he sort of deserves it."

He added:

"I have fought both of them. Islam is going to be a hard man to beat. Like, I think for anyone, the only chance of him losing is someone, you know, knocking him out, right? Like someone landing something — that's what I believe."

Check out Alexander Volkanovski's comments below:(08:30):

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Alexander Volkanovski ready to expose Diego Lopes’ flaws at UFC 314

Alexander Volkanovski is coming off two consecutive losses. In contrast, his opponent, Diego Lopes, is riding a five-fight winning streak into UFC 314 in Miami.

During the same interview with Bisping, the Australian was asked for his thoughts on Lopes and his strategies when sharing the octagon with him. Volkanovski answered:

"He's very aggressive — so that’s why he’s dangerous. But I mean, you know, it’s worked for him. He’s done well. But if you asked me to name fighters in the featherweight division who could capitalize on someone being very aggressive — yeah, they might be dangerous, but there are probably a lot of holes that can be capitalized on." [12:38]