Javier Mendez may believe that Ilia Topuria is more technical than Alexander Volkanovski, but he isn’t even close to counting out “The Great.”
Volkanovski will be putting his featherweight gold at stake against Topuria in the main event of UFC 298 this Saturday. There are a lot of questions on Volkanovski going into UFC 298 after he suffered a brutal head kick loss to Islam Makhachev last year. Some are wondering if Volk can return to form, or if his peak is coming to an end.
While Mendez believes that Topuria is a dangerous contender, he isn’t sold on Volkanovski being past his prime.
Javier Mendez Still Believes In Alexander Volkanovski
During a recent edition of the “Javier Mendez Podcast,” the American Kickboxing Academy head coach said that he finds Ilia Topuria to be more technically sound than Volkanovski, but he still thinks the 145-pound champion has what it takes to keep his reign going.
“On a technical side, Topuria [has the edge] because Alex has holes in his game on a technical,” Mendez said. “From championship rounds, Alex all the way. Come on, how many championship rounds does he have? He’s had a four-year reign where he was destroying everybody. The only fight he had close was the first one with the Hawaiian Max Holloway, you know, the first fight. That’s the one, the only one where I thought he might’ve lost. That was the only one. After that, everyone he’s fought he’s destroyed [at featherweight]. So, he’s on a tear, and his lone losses were to Islam both times, and they were at 155, though. Remember, he loses to Islam and then he fights Yair, and he destroys Yair. Oh man, this guy, he’s the greatest featherweight of all time for a reason, and he’s not over the hill. The thing is, people are saying, ‘Well, after the fight with Islam after he took that kick.’ I don’t think that one kick is gonna change who he is. Let’s just see. He’s made comments about how he didn’t take [the second Islam fight] as serious as he should’ve cause he was drinking. Not that he wasn’t training, but he was drinking and training, and obviously that does take a little bit off of you.”
UFC 298 emanates from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. MiddleEasy has you covered with results and video highlights, so check back on the homepage this Saturday night.
Take a look at the full clip of Mendez breaking down Volkanovski vs. Topuria.
