Alexander Volkanovski will have his opportunity to make history on home soil in February.
The UFC featherweight champion is set to take on newly-crowned lightweight champ Islam Makhachev in the main event of UFC 284 in Perth, Australia on Feb. 12, 2023. The promotion officially announced the bout Saturday.
The event will take place at the RAC Arena and air on pay-per-view.
Volkanovski (25-1 MMA, 12-0 UFC) will return to the lightweight division for the first time since his UFC debut in 2016. This time, the stakes are much higher as he looks to become a two-division champion in his own backyard. Volkanovski expressed his desire to remain very active as he believes he is in his prime and wants to take full advantage.
Standing his Volkanovski’s path to a second championship is Makhachev (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC), who claimed the lightweight title by defeating Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 in October. During his post-fight interview, Makhachev called for Volkanovski to enter the octagon to begin building hype for their champion vs. champion matchup.
After the lone setback of his career in 2015, Makhachev has blitzed through the lightweight division, rattling off 11-straight wins, including five-straight stoppage wins on his path to UFC gold.
Makhachev will look to secure his first title defense against Volkanovski, who has defended the featherweight title four times.
While Volkanovski moves up, the UFC also announced that Yair Rodriguez will face Josh Emmett for the interim 145-pound belt on the same UFC 284 card.
With the addition, the UFC 284 lineup includes:
- Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski – for lightweight championship
- Yair Rodriguez vs. Josh Emmett – for interim featherweight championship
- Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa
- Tyson Pedro vs. Mingyang Zhang
- Jack Jenkins vs. Don Shainis
- Justin Tafa vs. Parker Porter
- Joshua Culibao vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
