CONOR MCGREGOR could end up fighting a former UFC champion if Michael Chandler withdraws from their showdown.
The Irishman will be welcomed back to the octagon by his fellow fan favourite on June 29 in the main event of UFC 303 in Las Vegas.
MMA's top promotion have yet to announce a back-up for the blockbuster showdown.
The identity of the backup fighter, if there is one, will likely be revealed during Fight Week.
Although former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski has thrown his hat into the ring in case injury befalls Chandler.
He told the AllStar: "You find me an exciting fight, maybe in the lightweight division, or something like that, that’s fun.
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" I don’t want to wait too long.
"I mean I’ve told myself I wouldn’t do it but to capitalise on a massive opportunity because I know featherweight is going to be there, against Conor McGregor I still probably would.
" You just put that scenario there, maybe I will."
McGregor and Volkanovski, both 35, have a history of going back and forth with one another on social media, with the former branding the latter a "little sausage" last year.
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Volkanovski was last in action in February at UFC 298, where he lost the featherweight title to Ilia Topuria via brutal second-round KO.
McGregor, meanwhile, hasn't set foot inside the octagon since snapping his left leg in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier in July 2021.
The former two-weight world champion underwent a painstaking rehab to get himself fighting fit for his eagerly-anticipated octagon return.
And he plans to get back to winning ways by landing his once-shattered shin on the dome of Chandler.
In a recent interview with James Corden, he said: "I am Terminator now.
"I have a titanium rod that goes into the knee and down to the bone, right down to my ankle.
"It’s unbreakable.
"I wish for and I will work on landing this kick - with this steel bar in my leg - against an opponent and getting them out of there."