Alexander Volkanovski has not given up hope of one day claiming the UFC lightweight title despite losing both of his recent attempts at the belt.
The Australian UFC featherweight champion insists he will carry no scars from the latest of those defeats when he defends his belt for the sixth time against highly-rated Ilia Topuria.
After losing to Islam Makhachev in his first lightweight title challenge last February, Volkanovski accepted a rematch and fought the Russian on 11 days notice in October.
Makhachev, the lightweight champion since October 2022, brutally knocked Volkanovski out in the first round and consigned him to only his second loss since making his UFC debut in 2016.
Volkanovski (26-3) admitted at the time it was "silly" to have fought with such little preparation but is now focused on Topuria, whom he fights as the main event at UFC 298 on February 17.
"A lot of people are going to say, 'Is it going to affect you mentally?' and all that," Volkanovski said of his last defeat.
"Honestly, I completely forget about it. I feel exactly how I did coming off wins. I've turned up the same as I always do."
Volkanovski returns to his preferred featherweight division, where he is undefeated and has been champion since December 2019, to fight Topuria.
Turning 36 later this year, Volkanovski still holds out hope that he could become the first fighter since Conor McGregor in 2016 to hold both the UFC lightweight and featherweight belts at once.
"I'm a realist, I'm not expecting a rematch (with Makhachev) straight away," he said.
"With the age thing, there's obviously going to be some people doubting and want to know if his time's done, which is hyping up this fight so I'm all good with it.
"I'm going to go out there, take care of Ilia, and then we'll see what's next. But lightweight's definitely in the near future."
German-born Topuria is undefeated from 14 fights and most recently accounted for American Josh Emmett by unanimous decision last June.
Topuria has been vocal ahead of the fight in California, last month claiming on social media that "cooking suits you better" in reference to a favourite activity of Volkanovski outside the octagon.
Volkanovski, whom Topuria has also accused of being "too old" to defeat him, predicted he would be serving up a lesson in February.
"He thinks he's the man, he thinks he's the top of the division already and he hasn't even faced anyone right up there," Volkanovski said.
"If he ever gets to that point where he's going to be a champion or a great champion, he needs me to do what I plan on doing to him.
"I'm going to give him a good humbling, maybe he can bounce back after that and learn a thing or two, then we'll see what happens then. He's going to be shown a good lesson."
