Alexander Volkanovsky has only been knocked out three times in his career, and he knows his recent KO losses are closely tied.
Volkanovski, who came out of UFC 290 in July 2023, ruled Yair Rodriguez and wrote the fifth defense of his featherweight title. Four months later, less than a week later, Volkanovski was called to rematch Islamic Makhachev for a lightweight title at UFC 294.
Volkanovski was keen to face Makhachev again after five thrilling rounds with his Russian rival in a lost effort at UFC 284, but the decision was expensive as Makhachev won his second fight with a head kick knockout in the first round. Again, Volkanovsky had only waited four months to return to the octagon, so he again cruelly coded as he dropped a 145-pound belt on undefeated Ilia Topria at UFC 298.
Looking back, we can admit that Volkanovski has not given enough time to recover from the loss of the second Makhachev.
“I’m going too early and I’m knocked out, I’m losing my belt,” Volkanovsky said. Unscripted showpointing out the difference between combat sports and team sports injuries. “That’s the truth, that’s what happened. I’m not taking anything from Ilia, I’m just saying that it could happen. So I got a crazy shin at Noggin. Obviously Ilia can hit hard.
“He put me in his cheek, but there was immediately one good connection: snoring.”
Volkanovski has never lost a featherweight fight and has not been knocked out in his weight class, so the sight of him being knocked out coldly by Toplia was shocking. The results have had a major impact on Volkanovsky’s career, deciding to take a proper break from training and have not fought over a year since returning at UFC 314 to fight Diego Lopez this April.
It proved to be a wise move as Volkanovski looked sharp in five rounds.
“So I’m saying that it wouldn’t have happened without Islam (knockout loss)? I don’t know,” Volkanovsky said. “Again, (Topuria’s) can knock me out. Like I said, if I were to lose, it’s the guy who’s catching me and he’s definitely a guy who can do it. Yeah, that was true, but I haven’t fought my battle yet.
“I was worried about getting hit, and I was surprised there, and I remember sitting there, I was in two minds. Instead of hitting, I was like, “You’re fine. You’re coming back to it. Relax.” If I was so worried, why would I just shoot and be more defended and just not hug him there, but then I told myself, “You don’t need to do that.” …That was difficult for me.
Losing to Topuria was not only an emotional sacrifice to Volkanovski, but also a physical sacrifice. The 36-year-old Australian felt lost after being dropped by Makachev, and his only idea was to book another fight as soon as possible to redeem himself.
“You’ve been breaking this footage of me and seeing you don’t know what I am. If I were to be like this now, what would I do after the sports were over?” Volkanovski said. “That was something I was worried about. Then it seemed like I needed to be busy. I told the UFC I wanted to fight. I’d fight three months later with a bad concussion. Most people start camping for six months without head contact. I started training.
Just as incredible as Topuria’s knockout, Volkanovski has said in the past that the head Makhachev landed on him is even more devastating. Volkanovski left a terrible concussion and he now makes Topuria much easier to pick.
“Shoulder to such a dome, it’s a proper contact with the brain,” Volkanovsky said. “It’s brain trauma. It makes brain trauma directly. It sounds terrible when I say that, but you get what I want to say. You rattle on your chin. This was a bang.
“It seemed like I was wrong because everything was everywhere and all sorts of weird sounds, but I was there in the sense that ‘no’ knew what had happened. I couldn’t protect my hands.
1 comment