He may have been forced to travel to the United States to win the UFC Featherweight Championship, but Shellharbour's Alex Volkanovski is determined to ensure his next fight occurs much closer to home.
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With the UFC keen to stage his first defence in Australia, Sydney's Bankwest Stadium and Qudos Bank Arena have been floated as potential venues. Volkanovski, however, is eager for the fight to take place in his home town.
"It would be unreal to fight in Wollongong," Volkanovski said. "The chances of it might be pretty hard, but it would be incredible.
"WIN Entertainment Centre is indoor and might not be big enough, but for pay per view, we'll see what happens.
"With WIN Stadium, it's just harder with open stadiums, you never know what they're going to do though.
"Imagine that, how good would that be. I'd love to put on a show for the Illawarra. I know we'll sell it."
Volkanovski's comments came as he touched down in Sydney following Sunday's (AEDT) victory over former champion Max Holloway.
The fighter will be honoured in the coming weeks by Shellharbour City Council, with mayor Marianne Saliba announcing he will become just the third person, following Karen Murphy and David Smith, to receive the keys to the city.
Saliba said Volkanovski is a proud Shellharbour product and backed calls for a future fight in Wollongong.
"It would be a wonderful opportunity for him to fight in his own region, have a crowd that loves him, it would be great," Saliba said.
Destination Wollongong expressed their support for Volkanovski's next fight to take place in the Illawarra, however the organisation expects the UFC to send the fight to a larger venue in Sydney or Melbourne.
Despite this, the body remains eager to celebrate his title and supported Saliba's decision to award Volkanovski the keys to the city.
Fans may be forced to wait for a rematch with Holloway, with Volkanovski revealing he injured his right hand midway through the fight.
Scans later this week will confirm the severity of the injury and lay out a likely path for a return to training and his next fight.
"I'm not thinking about dates," Volkanovski said. "My hand's pretty busted, so I need to get that checked out.
"There's a good chance that might be broken, we don't know, so we'll see what happens."
Volkanovski's win over Holloway was his 18th straight and came on the back of victories over Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes.
Having defeated three of the sport's greatest featherweights, Volkanovski said the goal is now to elevate his status above those opponents.
"I've taken two of the featherweight GOATs. They were in talks who's the best featherweight and I took them out. That's saying I'm on my way to being one of the goats as well.
"Featherweight is my division, I'll go and take out the guys in that division.
"If you want to throw money fights at me, I'm going to take it. I'm not going to deny that, but at the same time, featherweight is my division and I reckon I'll be the GOAT of my division very soon. To do that, you have to defend it inside your division.
"I'll defend it, if something comes along, I'll do that, then I'll defend it again. Featherweight is my division and that's what I've got my eye on at the moment."
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