Las Vegas, NV — Fear of Yair Rodriguez’s dangerous, creative striking kept Alexander Volkanovski focused and working hard in preparation for the pair’s UFC 290 title fight.
Volkanovski (26-2) returned to the featherweight division on Saturday, unifying his featherweight title care of a third-round TKO win over interim champ Rodriguez. Speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press after the fact, the Australian admitted that it was that fear that “made me get the right training partners. It made me try and work out a good game plan. Systematically break him down. Take away a lot of his main tools, and I think we did a great job.”
“He’s still always going to be able to throw things, because he’s that creative, so that’s why he’s always going to be dangerous,” noted Volkanovski, whose only loss in the UFC came in his lightweight title fight against Islam Makhachev earlier this year. “But I was able to nullify a lot of his main tools. Things that he would usually be able to do frequently, he couldn’t do that with me. And then I was able to capitalize on that.”
Following the fight, Volkanovski revealed that he needed surgery, but downplayed the seriousness of the situation during Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “It’s not a big deal. I’ll be back in ASAP,” he stated, staying mum about the nature of the injury. “It’ll be a quick one, just need to get something sorted. But I’ll be training.”
And, as Volkanovski pointed out, he has made quick returns from injury before.
“I broke my hand last International Fight Week, and you seen me at Abu Dhabi ready to fight Islam or Charles Oliveira. That was a broken bone. This ain’t a broken bone,” he exclaimed. “We’ll be alright. You don’t need to stress about that. I’ll be training, I’m professional, I want to be active. I’ll be back in there before most of the other guys, other champions anyway. So don’t worry about that.”
Speaking of Makhavchev and the lightweight title, that very much remains Alexander Volkanovski’s goal. “We all know I want that lightweight belt. We all know I want that rematch. I want that Islam fight,” he admitted. “I think not only for me to get that belt, for me to get that win back, but I think it is a massive fight for the UFC as well. I think it’s a fight everyone wants to see, it was literally that type of fight, it was that close, it was a cracking fight. Everyone enjoyed it, it was very, very high level. It was one and two going at it, and we showed out. It really was that.”
“He lived up to the hype, I lived up to the hype, and that fight lived up to the hype. We just need to see [rounds] five to ten.”
Recently, former champ and current lightweight contender Charles Oliveira stated that he would not be ready for the UFC’s October card in Abu Dhabi. That is widely expected to be the return date for Makhachev, and leaves a potential opening for another opponent.
“It makes a lot better of an opportunity for me to step in there. But I mean like I said, I’m not ruling that out,” Volkanovski said of possibly stepping into the October title shot. “It’s funny, these people want extra time, here I am telling you I want to get surgery and I’m probably going to turn up there in October.”
According to Volkanovski, there aren’t many champions willing to step up like that. In his eyes, it comes down to himself and Israel Adesanya. “I think people need to respect that a lot. People talk about BMFs and all that type of stuff, they’re real BMFs. Guys that turn up when there’s a lot on the line. I’ll leave it at that.”
Watch the full UFC 290 post-fight press conference with Alexander Volkanovski above.
