Alexander Volkanovski has admitted his time in MMA is limited.
Volkanovski has the chance to win UFC gold once again when he takes on Diego Lopes at UFC 314.
The pair will collide for the vacant UFC featherweight title, previously held by Ilia Topuria before he decided to move up to lightweight.
Volkanovski won the 145-pound strap after defeating Max Holloway at UFC 245 in December 2019.
He held the title until 2023, beating the likes of Brian Ortega, Yair Rodriguez and Holloway twice more to cement his name as a featherweight great.
However, after suffering back-to-back knockouts in his last two UFC outings, the 37-year-old Australian now recognises his future could be cut short at anytime.
“I don’t know how much longer I have left in this,” Volkanovski explained on The Ariel Helwani show.
“I probably could go a few more years. I’m thinking of winning the belt, then defending [it].
“Even winning, I’m thinking: ‘You know what, I’m done’. Because how much longer do I want to do this?
“This ain’t easy, especially to be at a level that I’m at, where my expectations, my normal, is very hard work.
“It hurts, you’re in pain, you get stuck in. That’s what it takes to be elite and be the best and be at the top. I accept nothing but that. So it ain’t easy.”
Many MMA fans believed Volkanovski would struggle to get back to his best after being knocked out by Islam Makhachev in 2023.
Things then worsened for ‘The Great’ when he took on Topuria at UFC 298 and got finished in similar, brutal fashion.
But Volkanovski knows himself better than anyone else, and at the end of the day it will only be he who decides when his career is done.
“How much longer do I want to do this for? That’s the question,” he added.
“I know I’m going to be fine when my career is done. Two years ago if you asked me, I didn’t know if I was going to be fine. Now I know.
“So I’m expecting to maybe have a few more, a couple more. We’ll see. I’ll say that now — I have a fight and absolutely love it: ‘You know what, give me another seven!’
“I still love it, but how much longer do I want to do this to myself and my body? I do want to eventually sail off in the sunset, right?
“I was able to grow outside of fighting so much. So I’m really looking forward to that.
“But I want to have one last crack and get really stuck into it.
“Win that belt, defend it, maybe defend it again, or one big fight after a defense, we’ll see. Then, maybe I’m done. That’s where we’re at.”
Volkanovski’s opponent, Lopes, is on a five-fight winning streak in the UFC having secured two consecutive unanimous decision victories over Dan Ige and Ortega.
He suffered a brutal start to his UFC career, losing on his debut to Movsar Evloev, who many MMA fans thought may have been next in line for a featherweight title shot.
Evloev is undefeated in 19 professional bouts as an MMA fighter and defeated ex-bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling in a close encounter at UFC 310 last December.
UFC 314 witnesses a blockbuster card, as Michael Chandler takes on Paddy Pimblett in a five-round co-main event in Miami.
Former two-division Bellator champion Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire makes his UFC debut on the main card too, while Geoff Neal faces Carlos Prates in a tasty welterweight affair.
