There are many forms of mind games that can be played between fighters. Alexander Volkanovski plans to use his experience coaching opposite Brian Ortega on The Ultimate Fighter, to help him with his own mind games.
By all accounts, Volkanovski and Ortega should have already fought each other. They were slated to do just that in a featherweight title bout at UFC 260, but a stint with Covid left the champ needing to pull out.
Instead of just rebooking this fight for a few weeks later, the UFC took a different path. They chose to have these men be the coaches for the return season of The Ultimate Fighter.
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Alexander Volkanovski Plans To Use Mind Games
Alexander Volkanovski has already had the opportunity to study Brian Ortega and get to know his style. However with this delay in the fight, and coaching gig on TUF, he is going to have an even bigger window with which to understand how Ortega works.
Speaking in a recent interview, he explained that this is precisely what he plans to do. The featherweight champ is going to watch the show as it airs, and use what he sees there to get a better idea of how Brian trains, and if any sort of shenanigans get under Brian’s skin, he may use that to his advantage come fight time.
“Right now I’m going to capitalize on the extra time, so we’re going to do more film study. We’re going to see how he’s coaching. These shows are going to be airing, I want to see how he’s coaching. There’s so much knowledge we can get out of how they train, I guess we can use that to our advantage,” Volkanovski said.
“We’re all about strategy, and things like that, game planning, and then I get to really work on things I’ve already worked on. I might get to find new things to work on. I might find things from the show to work on. I might see how he reacts to little jokes and little pranks. If he’s going to have a hot head in situations like that, maybe I’m going to try to stir him up at weigh-ins. I don’t usually do that, but I’m going to have more knowledge, and understand how he works and I’m just going to play with it, and run with it.”
Will you be watching this new season of The Ultimate Fighter? Does this change your level of excitement for a fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega?
