Alexander Volkanovski knew taking a short-notice fight against someone as dangerous as Islam Makhachev was asking for trouble, but he just couldn’t help himself.
UFC 294 saw ‘The Great’ return for a long-awaited rematch with Makhachev in the evening’s main event. Eight months removed from their Fight of the Year contender, fans were expecting another 25-minute barnburner between the two celebrated titleholders. Instead, Makhachev finished things early, landing a vicious head kick that put Volkanovski on the canvas. Following it up with some ground and pound, the referee had no choice, but to step in and call for the stoppage just past the three-minute mark.
After the devastating defeat, Volkanovski shed some light on why he decided to take such an important fight on 11 days’ notice.
“I don’t want to sit there and obviously make excuses,” Volkanovski told reporters at the post-fight press event. “You know what I mean? Obviously, I’m a big believer in preparation and stuff like that. But I back myself, so that’s the decision I made. You know what I mean? I’ve probably made decisions… I could’ve made better decisions, but he’s not somebody you should be taking a short notice with. But I needed it.
“A lot of people will say it’s for the money and all that, but it was much more than that. It was hard. It really is hard for athletes. Sorry. I never thought I’d struggle with it, but for some reason when I wasn’t fighting or in camp, f*ck, sorry. I was just doing my head in. I needed a fight.”
“This opportunity came up and to be honest, I wasn’t training as much as I should’ve,” Volkanovski added. “But I thought I had to do it. I had to take it. I’m telling myself it’s meant to be. I was struggling a bit not fighting, doing my head in. I don’t know how. Everything’s fine. I have a beautiful family but I don’t know. You just need to keep busy. That’s why I just asked the UFC to keep me busy. I just need to be keeping busy. I need to be in camp, otherwise, I’m going to do my head in.”
Nothing but class from the featherweight champ 👏@AlexVolkanovski shows respect for Makhachev after a tough loss #UFC294 pic.twitter.com/CV0Sw1QSb3
— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2023
Alexander Volkanovski Heads Back to 145 With Gold to Defend
Despite coming up short as a lightweight twice in the last year, Alexander Volkanovski finds himself in a unique situation, still sitting on the throne of the 145-pound division. As for when you can expect ‘The Great’ to defend that title, all signs point toward a January showdown with Ilia Topuria. That’s assuming he will be medically cleared to compete following his tough loss in the UAE.
“I need to be busy,” Volkanovski said. “Again, it’s just I think my purpose obviously now is family and fighting. When I’m not fighting, I don’t feel like I’m ticking all the boxes. I need to be ticking all the boxes. I don’t like wasting time.”
Check out Volkanovki’s full post-fight press appearance below:
