UFC analyst sees Ilia Topuria's lightweight move as blessing for Alexander Volkanovski: "He's no spring chicken"

Michael Bisping believes Alexander Volkanovski might have benefited from not fighting Ilia Topuria in his next Octagon appearance.

Earlier this week, Dana White made a shocking announcement by revealing that Topuria vacated the UFC featherweight title with plans to move up to lightweight.

As a result, Volkanovski and Diego Lopes will fight for the vacant 145-pound strap on April 12 in the UFC 314 main event.

During a recently posted video on his YouTube channel, Michael Bisping had this to say about Volkanovski potentially benefiting from Topuria's move to lightweight:

"Now this whole thing kind of played out I think for the best for Volkanovski. I love Volkanovski, he's a tremendous guy, he's a legendary fighter, one of the greatest featherweights of all time that the sport has ever seen but going up against Topuria again, I don't know if that was the best idea."

Bisping followed up by saying:

"I'm not saying that he couldn't beat him because every single fight is different and of course in the first one, he was coming off the back of that vicious knockout to Islam Makhachev. This time it's different. He's 36 years old now, nevermind 35, nevermind that curse, he's 36. He's no spring chicken. He's not getting any younger."

Check out Michael Bisping's comments about Alexander Volkanovski below (4:05):

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Alexander Volkanovski teases rematch against Ilia Topuria at lightweight

Alexander Volkanovski was dethroned from his UFC featherweight title due to a second-round knockout loss against Ilia Topuria in February 2024.

Topuria might have moved up to lightweight, but Volkanovski believes they could still fight in a rematch in the future. 'The Great' had this to say in a recent video on his YouTube channel:

"Fair play to Ilia, yeah. I'll go do my thing, maybe we can just make a bigger fight after this. We'll see what happens. See whatever's in store for him, let him do his thing. But I'll go win this title and maybe we can make an even bigger rematch."

Check out Alexander Volkanovski's comments below (18:40):

In the meantime, Alexander Volkanovski is focused on his upcoming fight against Diego Lopes for the vacant UFC featherweight title.

Meanwhile, Ilia Topuria is rumored to be challenging Islam Makhachev for his UFC lightweight strap later this year.