“I’m the king of the division,” Coming off brutal knockout loss, Alexander Volkanovski aims to make a statement by dominating title challenger Ilia Topuria

Alexander Volkanovski returns to the octagon at UFC 298. As such, he puts his featherweight title on the line against Ilia Topuria. ‘The Great’ was on the receiving end of a brutal knockout when he went against Islam Makhachev. So, a few people started doubting his abilities. Now, Volkanovski responded to his critics and warned Topuria on the same.

In an interview with the UFC, Alexander Volkanovski stated he performed a notch better when people doubted him. Hence, he said these criticisms and doubts served as a motivation for him. As such, he boldly said he was the king of the featherweight division and promised to bring back his old self to the octagon. Further, he mentioned being hungrier than his challengers including Ilia Topuria.

I think I'm hungrier than these guys trying to chase that belt, and I've always been that way. I always, always thrive when I'm being doubted... That's what gets me going. I want everyone to remember that I'm the king of this division and there's a reason for that. You'll be seeing that same Alex that you've seen.

Alexander Volkanovski (via UFC News)

Alexander Volkanovski faced Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 on 10 days’ notice. He was supremely confident and jumped on the opportunity in an attempt to become a two-division champion. However, he failed miserably as he lost in the first round via knockout. Now, he acknowledged being greedy and was content with his featherweight belt. As such, he promised to put on a show at UFC 298 and defend his title against Ilia Topuria.

Ilia Topuria in his last outing dominated Josh Emmett for a decisive win. Also, he kept his undefeated record intact and extended it to 14. Now, he was confident he could beat Alexander Volkanovski who hadn’t lost a fight in the featherweight division. On the other hand, ‘The Great’ believed he would hand Topuria his first professional loss. As such, this fight goes down in UFC 298 in February 2024.

A look back on Alexander Volkanovski’s title defense

Alexander Volkanovski became the UFC featherweight champion by defeating Max Holloway at UFC 245. Since it was a controversial decision win for ‘The Great’, a rematch was set for UFC 251. Again, Volkanovski was determined as the victor by a controversial split decision. This called for a trilogy bout and it went down in 2022.

But, in the meantime, Alexander Volkanovski defended his belt twice against Brian Ortega and The Korean Zombie. These were sound wins as the Australian battered them up in the fight. As such, the trilogy with Max Holloway was no different as Volkanovski bloodied Holloway in the course of five rounds. This finally let him move on from the doubters who believed ‘Blessed’ got the better of him in their past two fights.

Recently, Alexander Volkanovski defended his featherweight belt against Yair Rodriguez and extended his title defense count to five. Now, he is set to face Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 next year. As such, he was optimistic about getting his sixth-title defense. Also, a win against Topuria would get him one step closer to the record of most title defenses in the 145lbs division held by Jose Aldo(7).

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