Despite his recent loss to Islam Makhachev, Georges St-Pierre and his coach, Firas Zahabi, believe that Alexander Volkanovski remains a powerful fighter.
Volkanovski will be defending his belt against Ilia Topuria on February 17. It is expected to be a tough fight for the champ, with the young title challenger being an undefeated fighter. The Australian fighter, nonetheless, thinks he can come out of the cage with a win this time, and St-Pierre and his coach believe in the champ’s capability.
For the MMA icon, Volkanovski’s two losses to Makhachev do not affect his image as a fighter, suggesting he remains better than the Russian rival despite the result of their last two fights.
“If you watch any sport, the team that wins is not always the best team,” St-Pierre said in an interview at Bangtao in Phuket, Thailand. “The best team don’t always win because otherwise it would be boring. You’ll watch it on paper, and you’ll make an analysis, and you’ll be, ‘Oh, this team will win’, but that’s not what happens all the time.
“The odds will favor a certain team, but the team that wins is the team that plays the best on the night of the game. Same thing in fighting. The fighter that will win the fight that night is not always the best fighter. It’s the fighter that will fight the best on the night of the fight. I’m not making any excuses or anything. This is just how things happen sometimes.”
Zahabi, on the other hand, thinks that having an immediate fight after his last one is a quick turnaround for Volkanovski. Others would think this would give Topuria the advantage, but the coach doesn’t think this will be the case at UFC 299.
“When you come back too fast, too quickly after a knockout, sometimes your pride, your desire for revenge, to redeem yourself, gets the best of you,” Zahabi explained on his YouTube channel. “You want to right that wrong that happened to you, but you went in too early – and a heavy puncher like Topuria might capitalize on that. I don’t think that is going to happen.
“I think Volk can outstrike him. I think Volk can out-condition him. I think Volk can out-grapple him. I think Volk’s ground-and-pound is too ferocious,” Zahabi said. “I think Volk has way too much five-round experience. Topuria did a great job in his five-round fight against Josh Emmett, but still, Volk, we all know, is levels above. I think Volk is going to outkick Topuria. The boxing is going to be close. I give a slight edge in boxing, mark my words, to Topuria.”
