LAS VEGAS – HUNTER CAMPBELL WAS in Sydney, Australia, last month for UFC 293. On his final day in the city before heading back to the United States, the UFC’s chief business officer sat down for drinks with Alexander Volkanovski, the UFC featherweight champion and resident of nearby Wollongong, 58 miles away. Ash Belcastro, Volkanovski’s agent, was also in attendance.
The three men talked for hours, until around 3 a.m., about Volkanovski’s career and future goals. The plan they devised included a return in January to defend his featherweight title, but what stood out to Campbell was Volkanovski’s fixation on a rematch with Islam Makhachev.
“[Volkanovski] kept saying to me, ‘I know that if I get another opportunity, I can beat him,'” Campbell told ESPN. “He was obsessed with it.”
Makhachev, the UFC lightweight champion, beat…
