Alexander Volkanovski was on top of the world at the start of 2023.
“The Great” earned his nickname en route to becoming one of the greatest Featherweights of all time. At UFC 284, Volkanovski targeted a second title when he challenged the Lightweight titleholder, Islam Makhachev, in February 2023.
Unfortunately for Volkanovski, his Perth, Australia home game was spoiled against his fellow champion when he lost a unanimous decision (watch highlights) in their instant classic. Volkanovski returned to Featherweight and successfully defended his title against Yair Rodriguez (watch highlights) in July before a Makhachev rematch in October. The latter came on short notice, which has been speculated since as a questionable decision on Volkanovski’s part as he lost via first round knockout (watch highlights). To make matters trickier, he turned around to defend again against Ilia Topuria in February 2024.
Volkanovski, 35, lost that fight by knockout as well, just in the second round (watch highlights). From longtime commentator, Joe Rogan’s, seat he believes the sporadic nature of Volkanovski’s decision-making took him off his perch when he easily could have had a different chapter written in his story.
“When Volkanovski fought the first time and he was perfectly prepared, it was an amazing fight,” Rogan said on the Joe Rogan Experience. “I thought he won. I thought it was very close, but I thought he won. I gave I think round two was the difference and I could see round two going either way but I gave it to ‘Volk.’ When they announced the rematch, part of me was like, ‘Ooh, that’s a great fight, but eeh this is the fight for No. 1 pound-for-pound.’ I believe ‘Volk’ won the first fight although very close, I don’t think it was a robbery. I think that puts him as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
He loses the fight to Islam, he gets caught with that head kick then he gets knocked out by [Ilia] Topuria, now he’s not even in that conversation anymore,” he continued. “This is a short amount of time and everything falls apart. I think it wouldn’t have fallen apart if not for the rematch. If he just waited for Topuria, I gotta think that head kick has a factor.”
Volkanovski is now taking time to chill before returning to action without his title. However, he does plan to fight for gold upon his return. Meanwhile, Makhachev seeks his third successful title defense against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 this weekend (Sat., June 1, 2024).
the risk of taking short notice fights. hope the payday he got was worth the rest of his career
Sad thing, is while a lot of us RESPECT Volk for putting all on the line like that, if he had retired after his first Islam bout, he’d be talked as one of the all time GOATS. It’s like people don’t respect courage and guts. Only wins. Khabib will always have that aura by retiring undefeated. You think if he was still active he’d never lose?
Topuria is a special breed. So complete AND with KO power. That’s what sets him apart. Of course he can lose too, but he is so good everywhere. Volk became great everywhere but never had KO power. That he has lost step or not is meaningless in that Makhachev and Topuira are slightly above him. No shame in that. IMO they are the two top P4P guys in MMA .