Alex Volkanovski is the current pound for pound champion of the UFC. Volkanovski has earned his status by repeatedly asserting his dominance and lording over the featherweight division.
White gave the green light for Volkanovski to try and capture the lightweight belt in an upcoming clash against current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. The two make for an interesting match up.
Volkanovski started his athletic career in rugby – and used to have a substantially larger frame. Some, like teammate Israel Adesanya, think this will give Volkanovski the advantage over Makhachev.
Recently Volkanovski visited the Triple M studio ahead of UFC 284 in Perth, there he showed ex-AFL (Australian Football League) star what it feels like to be kicked by the world’s No. 1 pound for pound champ.
Radio host and former AFL player Xavier Ellis then volunteered to be kicked by Volkanovski. Despite being substantially bigger and taller than Volk, kick – delivered at half-pace to Ellis’ left leg – almost dropped him to the floor.
Volkanovski is currently in the bulking phase hoping to gain enough in size to be able to match Makhachev who is a rather big lightweight and often struggles making weight at 155lbs.
‘We got the dietician working on the plan. I’ve got strength and conditioning happening and I’m eating over 4,000 calories a day, which is hard,’ Volkanovski told reporters.
‘I never thought I’d complain about eating too much food.”
Adesanya backed Volkanovski and even went so far as to suggest he would bet his house on him to defeat Makhachev:
“So Volk used to be a fat guy. Yeah. Like Big Boy Brawly. He played rugby. And thing is, when you walk around with that kind of body mass for years, you develop a different kind of muscle density inside. But even with Volk, I’ve tried of hold him down.”
“I’m not the greatest wrestler even with my frame and my leverage is hard to hold him down. He finds a way back up. ”
“He even finds a way to get inside on me. Sometimes even striking. A lot of these crafty, crafty veteran, his inside leg kick, his jabs, his hand control, all that. He’s crafty. And Islam is great.”
“Trust me, these Dagi boys, they know what they’re doing. They have their own pedigree and they’re great. But again, I’m biased. Of course they’re going to say that because it’s my boy. Boy, I truly – gun to my head. I could bet a f**k like honestly, I could bet my old house on that.”
Meanwhile Khabib went so far as to suggest the clash would consist of clinch exchanges:
“Volkanovski? Clinch, lot of knees; he’s gonna eat a lot of knees. He [Makhachev] is gonna take his [Volkanovski’s] all energy, take him down, and he’s gonna choke him out.”