Despite many in the MMA community expressing doubts about his victory against the undefeated Ilia Topuria at UFC 298, Alexander Volkanovski chooses to believe in himself. According to the champ, he will shut doubters up and teach the young opponent a lesson in February.
Volkanovski is entering the cage after his recent loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 in October. With this defeat, some are worrying that the champ is finally facing the end. In November, No. 1-ranked bantamweight fighter Aljamain Sterling expressed concern about the champion, saying a quick turnaround could lead to another defeat this year.
“The Great,” nonetheless, has had enough of doubters questioning his ability and viewing his recent experiences as a weakness. According to Volkanovski, he will prove this at UFC 298 when he humbles Topuria.
“I can literally look at these people and be like, ‘Shut your mouth. That’s right, I am still that guy,’” said on the Who The Fook Are These Guys podcast. “You might see me vulnerable, but don’t forget I’m the – hey, one day I might be a little vulnerable, you might see me there covering my face at that one point, but the next week I’m the baddest man on the planet. You remember that. And some people need to be reminded. The beautiful thing about it is I get to remind them not too far away.”
As for “El Matador,” Volkanovski reiterated that he plans to give the young fighter his first defeat and teach him that it still isn’t his time to reign.
“This guy thinks he’s the man,” Volkanovski said. “It’s funny. For me, I’ve always wanted to earn my stripes, earn these positions, put myself in there, and earn that respect. This guy’s just getting things given to him and probably not even that much, but he thinks he’s the man. The beautiful thing about it is I get to teach a kid a lesson. Ready to go out there, I want to teach him a lesson, humble him a little bit, and still let him wake up to himself and then he can bounce back when my time’s done.
“He needs a bit of humbling. Twenty-six, perfect age. He needs the world to see, a little humbling experience for him. He maybe needs a bit of embarrassment and snap things into gear and then maybe he can one day be a great champion. Right now he wants to act like how he’s acting, I’m just going to teach him a lesson. I’m going to embarrass him. He’s young enough to bounce back in a positive way. I’ll play teacher the next few months.”
