Alexander Volkanovski doesn’t believe he’s making too quick of a turnaround with his upcoming fight against Ilia Topuria at UFC 298.
Volkanovski (26-3 MMA) most recently competed at last October’s UFC 294 event, where he suffered a brutal knockout loss to reigning lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. The setback marked the Aussie’s first stoppage defeat since his initial professional loss in 2013.
Given the nature of his most recent loss to Makhachev, combined with his emotional post-fight remarks, many fans had hoped Alexander Volkanovski would take some serious time off following the devastating defeat.
However, that did not prove to be the case, as ‘The Great’ was quickly booked to defend his featherweight title against Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 on February 17 in Anaheim, California.
The highly anticipated title bout will mark Volkanovski’s third fight in seven months, as he previously fought and defeat Yair Rodriguez in July of 2023.
While many fans and analysts believe ‘The Great’ is making too quick a turnaround at UFC 298, the longtime featherweight champion does not agree.
“He’s a good matchup,” Volkanovski told Michael Bisping on his YouTube channel (h/t MMAJunkie). “A lot of hype around him, undefeated, I think this is just the perfect bounce-back fight for me, as well. A lot of people are saying he’s dangerous, which look, he is dangerous. He’s a powerful dude. He’s undefeated. That’s a story in itself. You’ve got the story of what happened in my last fight. People are like, ‘Oh, is he coming back too soon?’ All this is a part of the story. When I look at it, I’m like, ‘Mate, I’ve been in camp for that long. I’m hearing people saying, Oh, he’s back too soon.’ I just can’t see it.”
Alexander Volkanovski continued:
“I’ve been busting my ass for that long. I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’ Like, I’ve had that much time. This has been a very long camp for me. Obviously I followed all the protocols after it from concussion and that like, I’m lucky enough to have a great team around me. But we followed that to a T, and that’s why the fight was pushed back a month because we just thought January was rushing. We wanted that extra month where I could ease into it and then start camp. That’s what we did.”
In conclusion, the Aussie says he will have no regrets win or lose at UFC 298:
“I’m not doing this just to get my head right,” Alexander Volkanovski said. “I’m doing this because I want to be active. I want to be busy, and I know it’s enough time. A lot of people are going to sit there and say there’s the mental side of things and I get that, but I’m just different. I go into every fight like I’m a pretty confident guy where I believe the only chance a lot of these guys that I fight have of beating me is by catching me. So it’s not like, ‘Oh, he got finished, now he’s going to second guess.’ I always fight smart. I always try and be calculated. If I lose, a good chance of that happening is from getting caught. I’m aware of that. I’ve always been that through my whole career. Nothing has changed for me.”
Do you think Alexander Volkanovski is making too quick a turnaround with his fight against Ilia Topuria at UFC 298?
