After Daniel Cormier’s massive and historic heavyweight title victory at UFC 226, the division’s top contenders are now being put on hold.

One of those is/was the top Russian striker and former Bellator champion, Alexander “Drago” Volkov who was even on standby for Cormier’s title fight barring an injury.

Having his last fight been in March, Volkov isn’t willing to wait around for what will seemingly have to be sometime next year after Brock Lesnar jumps the line to challenge Cormier.

Also, a “winner” at UFC 226 was Derrick Lewis who defeated the No. 1 ranked contender Francis Ngannou in the co-main event.

Volkov took to Twitter today to challenge the “Black Beast” to a showdown in his homeland on September 15th. Lewis responded shortly after in comedic fashion.

Black man in Moscow?!?! Fuck that. come to the USA

— Derrick Lewis (@Thebeast_ufc) July 25, 2018

Volkov: It seems like the only way for me to get a fight in #UFCMoscow is to call here to fight @Thebeast_ufc. Derrick, what do you say?

Lewis: Black man in Moscow?!?! F*ck that. come to the USA

Volkov retorted back quickly to say, “Dont be a racist. Russia is an international country!”.

In Volkov’s last time out, he earned the biggest win of his 36 fight career by knocking out the former UFC champion Fabricio Werdum. This made Volkov only the third man to defeat Werdum since 2008.

Set to headline UFC’s first trip to Russia was to be Werdum taking on another top Russian heavyweight in Alexey Oleynik. Werdum would end up being flagged by USADA resulting in his pulling from the fight. Mark Hunt is now set to replace him.

After Lewis’ uninspiring win over Ngannou, a fight and potential win over Volkov could be just what he needs to get back some momentum.

Curtis injured, Stipe is spending his time with the family, Ngannu already had two non-rival defeats in a row. I and @Thebeast_ufc can hold a good contender fight in Moscow.

— Alexander Volkov (@AlexDragoVolkov) July 25, 2018

Curtis [Blaydes] injured, Stipe [Miocic] is spending his time with the family, Ngannu already had two non-rival defeats in a row. I and @Thebeast_ufc can hold a good contender fight in Moscow.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/25/2018