Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski remains an outside chance to again fight for UFC ‘champ champ’ status later this year after Dana White refused to rule it out a UFC 289 press conference big on boos and Maple Leafs.

With the UFC now only days away from its hyped return to Vancouver, Canada, much of the attention has centred on the lightweight showdown between Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush – and exactly what has been promised for the winner.

Speaking with Fox Sports Australia this week, both men insisted victory guaranteed them a shot at reigning UFC lightweight king Islam Makhachev – with Dariush even revealing he had been promised as much by senior UFC executive Hunter Campbell.

But when asked about exactly that at Friday morning’s press conference, UFC president White surprisingly said that while the idea “right now, makes a lot of sense”, he refused to confirm any deal was in place.

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If true that nothing is guaranteed, it means Volkanovski remains an outside chance to rematch Makhachev, most likely in Abu Dhabi this October, if he wins his own UFC featherweight bout against Mexico’s Yair Rodriguez in July.

Given Oliveira also lost the strap to Makhachev in his most recent outing, UFC executives may prefer to opt for Volkanovski if it is the Brazilian who wins Sunday.

Certainly Oliveira talked confidently of victory on stage, reminding that despite having lost his most recent title bout “a wounded lion is still a lion”.

When it comes to The Lioness – aka UFC women’s bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes – meanwhile, she took aim at not only her latest title headline rival, Irene Aldana, but the fighter she was initially challenging before withdrawal – Julianna Pena.

“Honestly, I will stop her, no doubt in my mind,” the champ said of Aldana.

“This belt is mine.

“She is better fight than Julianna for sure. She is going to bring a challenge and I’m ready for the battle, man.

“You guys have the greatest main event ever.”

Asked for a response, Aldana doubled down on what has this week been here new twist on an old saying, insisting the UFC 289 headliner will be, for her: “Kill or kill”.

Elsewhere, Canada’s Mike Malott fielded the largest share of questions, Dan Ige promised a “clean kill” of Nate Landwehr who, in turn, talked wonderfully of himself in the third person.

Leading off his first answer by shouting “Nate ‘The train’ is at the damn press conference, let’s go”, the popular American then doubled down and promised to be the first man to finish Ige inside the Octagon.

But as for how he does that?

“I’ll try and kick him in the head,” Nate the Train shrugged.

But for Australian fight fans, the most intriguing answer belonged to White.

Asked if the winner of Sunday’s co-main is guaranteed Makhachev for the title in Abu Dhabi this October, he replied: “I have no idea.

“We’ll see how the fight goes on Saturday but, yeah, it obviously makes a lot of sense.

“Right here, right now, makes a lot of sense.

“But we’ll see what happens.”

Given White’s response, Dariush was asked if he was worried that, despite what he insisted had been promised, another win may still not be enough.

“No,” he replied, “I’m not concerned at all”.

Asked, meanwhile, about returning from the Makhachev loss, Oliveira said: “A wounded lion is still a lion.

“I feel like I was reborn from the ashes.

“I’m a champion and I will show you that.

“Beneil is a tough guy, who deserves all the respect in the world.

“But I’m not worried about what Beneil will bring.

“It’s what I can do … and it’s a bad time all the time.”

To which Dariush says what?

“I’m confident in my skill set and confident in what God has given me,” he replied.

“I recognize how good Charles is.

“(But) It’s not about seeing something in him that’s a flaw.

“I’ve said this before; Charles is the second best lightweight of all time, right behind Khabib (Nurmagomedov).

“But it doesn’t matter to me. I want to fight the best guys in the world.”

When it comes to undeniable press conference winner however, that honour belonged to hometown favourite, Canadian welterweight Malott.

A fella who is gunning for his sixth straight win against Adam Fugitt, who rarely got asked anything and, then when he did, was roundly booed.

“I’ve been in this room for the last eight weeks already, man,” Malot said when quizzed on having already envisioned his fight play out.

“My body just hasn’t got here yet.

“But to finally be in this room, I feel so comfortable, man.

“Let’s go.

“I just feel so privileged to represent this country.

“Like does anyone feel differently? This is our show. This is for us.

“This is our return.

“This is Canadian MMA’s return to the UFC, baby.

“This is our coming out party.”

Yet while the Canadians may be arriving to the UFC – again – the other big question out of this weekend is how much the world’s baddest woman has left.

Already considered the greatest female UFC fighter of all time, Nunes was asked during the press conference exactly what is left for her to prove?

“Honestly, the competition is driving me forward,” she said.

“I love competition. Love the process.

“I want to do this.

“I want to have these two belts.

“This is what’s driving me to be here for you guys today. It’s all about competition.”

But as for the rival looking to stop her?

“I’m here for the win – kill or kill,” Aldana said.

“It’s not kill or die.

“I will do anything to win this fight.”