Alexander Volkanovski revisited his UFC 294 loss to Islam Makhachev, revealing that he was not in his best version of himself when he took the fight offer.
Volkanovski lost to the pound-for-pound king for the second time when he took the fight on 12 days’ notice. It was a terrible first-round KO loss for the Australian and later led some to start doubting him. “The Great,” however, believes he was just caught in an unfortunate state.
“It was like a little kick up arse for me – I wasn’t disciplined,” Volkanovski said on FREESTYLEBENDER in an interview. “I’m known for being disciplined all year round, 24/7, and I just wasn’t that time. I was really disappointed. I was more upset with who I was in the previous months leading up to that. To be honest, it made it a little easier because it snapped me out of it. It snapped me out of it. I was drinking every day for like three or four weeks.
“Honestly, that’s unheard of for me, like (drinking) every day. I’ve never, ever done that. But I was like, ‘Ah, I’m not training much,’ and the surgery and just trying to help around the house I was like, ‘All right, I’ll have a couple of drinks here, they’ll go down good,’ you know what I mean? It was going down too good. Every day I went to cans with the fam and come back and even then I was like, ‘Man, this has to stop.’ I was saying that even the day I before I got the call. I was (183 pounds) that day. I went to my strength and conditioning coach, and we did some tests, and I stood on the scale, and I was 83 (kilograms). All the boys in the gym were laughing. I’ve never been that heavy.”
Despite this, the featherweight champ stressed that a loss to Makhachev is something he’s ashamed of. In the end, Volkanovski underscored it was just one of those unfavorable moments that took him there, suggesting his performance could be different if he was fully prepared for the match.
“…Losing is always going to suck, but you lose to a fighter like Islam, it’s OK,” said Volkanovski. “I know I can beat him. I’ve proven that, but he caught me. All credit to him. I’m not taking anything away from him. He set up that kick, and there’s not much I can say. I was just disappointed with the guy I was leading into that.”
