- Alexander Volkanovski is laser-focused on finishing Islam Makhachev at UFC 294
- “The Great” said he doesn’t need to worry about Makhachev’s game as he already knew what he can do
Alexander Volkanovski is certain he already knew what Islam Makhachev could do inside the Octagon and he is well aware he could match it. However, “The Great” refuses to even let Makhachev get a chance to get into his rhythm as he plans to take him out as early as possible.
There’s no better way to do it than a finish
Speaking to TNT Sports, Volk reiterated that his goal is to go for a finish despite knowing that he could also fight Makhachev for another 25 minutes. For Volkanovski, the short notice is not an issue as he already knew how to beat Makhachev right after their first meeting and he didn’t need a full camp to master it.
“There’s adjustments I know I could have made straight away and a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, he didn’t have the camp,’ like I can still roll in like I know exactly what I needed to do. I didn’t need a camp to understand what I needed to do. I knew as soon as I walked out of that octagon what I needed to do and this 11, 12-day camp, that just rolls straight on,” Volkanovski explained.
“Can I still do five rounds? 100%. But am I going to rely on that? No. I can’t afford to and I don’t want to. I want a better ending to this story. I want to finish him. I really want to go out there and I think that’s my best bet so let’s go and take it,” he added.
Volk no longer need to respect Islam’s game
Volkanovski also confided that he is done gauging and respecting Makhachev’s game. After doing so, he realized that the lightweight champ wasn’t as difficult as everybody said he is. With that in mind, “The Great” said he would come in there without having to worry about what Makhachev would do.
“I learned so much from that fight there was confidence, again, like I showed him all that respect and now I feel like I didn’t need to do that. Because obviously, I was expecting maybe he is going to be as strong as they say, I know I’ll deal with it but now… I feel like I’m good enough to make the most of it straight away and I have to I don’t have time to rely on anything else but going out there and really putting it on him,” Volkanovski pointed out.
UFC 294 is Volkanovski’s second chance at becoming a two-division champion. If he ends up losing once again, he still gets to retain his featherweight title but there is no guarantee if he could get an opportunity to make history again. On the other hand, Makhachev plans to move up to welterweight and become a two-division champ as well if he manages to beat Volk for the second time around.
Check out Volk’s full interview below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9e-lH5hBTg
