World no.1 pound-for-pound brawler Alex Volkanovski is taking extreme measures to bulk up for his title fight against Russian king Islam Makhachev as the Aussie plans to step up from his featherweight success for UFC 284 in Perth.

After a career as undisputed champion at featherweight, Volkanovski is now making the step up to take on Makhachev at lightweight with a chance to grasp both belts. 

Alex 'The Great' is tipped as an underdog to usurp Makhachev and then defend his featherweight title, which is feeding his hunger to win. 

'I’m trying to do things that not only people don’t want to do, but people haven’t done,' Volkanovski said.

'Not many people are putting themselves in the position I am, they usually have a more calculated approach when they move up and fight the champion. They’re looking at who it is, the timing, all that type of stuff.

'Me? I don’t care who is holding that belt, bring it on … I’m looking forward to going out there and really making history by doing something like that and defending both belts, which no one has done.'

To achieve his goal, Volkanovski has been eating an incredible 4000 calories a day to bulk up.

That is just under Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's daily eating regime of 5000 calories except the Hollywood action star tips the scales at 118kg - almost 60kg more than Volkanovski. 

'That's what I mean about taking things to a whole other level,' he said.

'I've got the dietician working on the plan, I've got strength and conditioning happening and I am eating over 4000 calories a day, which is hard.

'I never thought I would complain about eating too much food.'

Makhachev will be no easy assignment, with the Russian boasting a 21-1 record and the nickname Khabib 2.0 in honour of fellow Russian champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Nicknames hold no fear to Volkanovski, though, with the Shellharbour product believing he can shock the UFC world by bridging the weight gap.

Conor McGregor dubbed himself the 'champ-champ' after holding up both the featherweight and lightweight gongs back in 2016.

The Irish icon was the first fighter to attain both the UFC belts, but failed to successfully defend them. 

Volkanovski started his career at 77kg, however the 25-1 fighter was sitting at 63.5kg when he claimed victory over American Max Holloway in July and insists the extra weight will make him even harder to pin down. 

Makhachev was dominant over Brazilian Charles Oliveira on October 22, forcing an arm tackle submission in the second round.

The Russian was handed his last loss in 2015 against Brazilian Adriano Martins, knocked out in the first round after a brutal right punch.

The 34-year-old is to be joined by middleweight countryman Robert Whittaker, where they will both biff on at Perth's RAC Arena.