Alex Volkanovski may not have taken a full-blown victory lap, but he certainly got the last laugh after AJ McKee lost his Bellator featherweight title. The 27-year-old American (18-1) surrendered the belt he won from Patricio “Pitbull” Freire back to the Brazilian on April 15, suffering his first professional defeat. The unanimous decision loss came after McKee had taunted UFC featherweight champ Volkanovski (24-1). He said he “wasn’t impressed” by the Australian’s victory against “The Korean Zombie” Jung Chan-sung at UFC 273, and criticised Volkanovski for not responding to his call-outs for a cross-promotional fight. “I didn’t see it because I was on the [victory] tour and I was busy. But yeah, the only reason I knew about it is because people said he was saying this and that, and then I got told he lost,” Volkanovski told the Post at his team’s new Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA gym in Phuket. “It just makes me chuckle in a sense, but at the same time you can’t hate on these guys or what that’s a part of. They want to hype things up and build themselves up. It’s promotion, it’s marketing, it’s how some people approach it. “So you can’t hate them for it. It’s just a job they think they need to do, but sometimes it makes you laugh when things don’t go to plan when they run their mouth like that.” Superbon wants to give MMA a shot, UFC’s Volkanovski keen to train him McKee is not the only champion from another MMA organisation who has called out UFC pound-for-pound No 2 Volkanovski for a cross-promotion fight. McKee’s conqueror, Pitbull, has also expressed interest in the past, as has Thanh Le, the featherweight champ in Asian promotion ONE Championship. “Cross promotion is hard to think about,” Volkanovski said, however. “I don’t think it will ever happen, so I just worry about what I need to. But if it does, I’ll love it. “I’m a fan of the sport. I have all my social media, they’re involved with MMA, and a lot of these things come up. Whenever there’s a big card or promotion I like to tune in and watch.” Volkanovski reiterated his call for a UFC lightweight title shot, as he bids to become a double champ, but insisted he will wait to see how next month’s clash between Charles Oliveira and challenger Justin Gaethje plays out. “I’d love it. We’ve got to see if it can work and the timing and everything like that, but it’s something I think is gonna be in the near future,” he said. “It would be great to be my next fight, but if I have to wait long for it and wait for this or that to happen, I’d rather fight and do that later on. “I plan to hold this belt for a long time, so the move up can be whenever. But I just want it to be soon because I feel like I’ve earned it.”