More than a year has passed since Alexander Volkanovski last fought. That time off following back-to-back knockout losses gave the former UFC featherweight champion plenty of time to reflect — and also gave him some needed perspective before the recent offer arrived to face Diego Lopes in the main event of UFC 314 in Miami this April, with a chance to recapture the now-vacant UFC featherweight title.
“I had a big time off, big break, you’re not training as much. So then you think, ‘Is this going to start being a problem now?’ Volkanovski acknowledged Wednesday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.”
“I’ll be honest with you, a few months ago, I didn’t know — I might not be the same guy I was. But that doesn’t mean I can’t win. I could do this, this, this. I’ll be strategic; I’ve always been like that. Where now I’m like, ‘Wait a second, I feel great.’ I can’t believe how good I’m feeling, how fast and sharp I’m feeling. So it’s great, I’m in a great position.”
Prior to getting his shot at the vacant UFC featherweight title following Ilia Topuria’s decision to vacate the belt and move up to lightweight, Volkanovski admitted he’d been asking himself some hard questions about his future.
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After going most of 2024 without a training camp, he decided to get back into serious training early in order to get his weight down, which he said was the “best decision I’ve made.” Still, the intensity of his training prompted him to wonder how many more such camps he might have left him at the age of 36.
“Even winning, I’m thinking of, ‘You know what, I’m done,'” Volkanovski said. “Because how much longer do I want to do this? It ain’t easy, especially to be at a level that I’m at, where my expectations, my normal, is very hard work. It hurts, you’re in pain, you get stuck in [the mindset of] that’s what it takes to be elite, be the best and be at the top. I accept nothing but that. So it ain’t easy.
“I’m expecting to maybe have a few more [fights], a couple more, a few more. We’ll see. I’ll say that now — I have a fight and absolutely love it; you know what, give me another seven. But how much longer? I still love it, but how much longer do I want to do this to myself and my body? I do want to eventually sail off in the sunset, right? I’ve already started that — I’m here on the farm, I enjoyed the last year. It’s been incredible. I was able to grow outside of fighting so much.”
Volkanovski’s new excitement about the possibilities awaiting him post-fighting hasn’t deterred him from his plan to reclaim UFC gold. The championship spirit is still alive and well within the Australian legend, and he’s already mapping out his hopes to immediately defend the title after beating Lopes at UFC 314.
“I’m really looking forward to that, but I want to have one last crack and get really stuck into it,” Volkanovski said. “Win that belt, defend it, maybe defend it again. Maybe one big fight after a defense, we’ll see. Then maybe I’m done. That’s sort of where we’re at. But I want to be active even as soon as I get this belt. When I get it back, I’m like, ‘Alright, when we doing this next one? Who is it? Movsar [Evloev], you ready? Let’s go.’ A couple of months after [UFC 314], whatever, I’m ready. That’s what I’m expecting to do.”
Realistically, Volkanovski thinks he could have two or three quality title defenses left — assuming he wins the vacant title against Lopes this spring. In 30 fights, he’s suffered only four defeats while cementing his place among the greats. However, of those four losses, three came in his past four outings.
Volkanovski famously spoke out about the mental health struggles he had after his first loss to UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in early 2023. The then-145-pound champion fought three times that year, with the last being his short-notice rematch against Makhachev, a fight he took in part because of his drive to stay active.
Volkanovski felt lost when he didn’t have a fight to prepare for, he said back then, which may have played a role in his current two-fight losing skid.
“That was how I was feeling at the time. It was tough,” Volkanovski said. “I’ve just been a fighter for so many years, I didn’t know any different. Never worked on myself at all. I was just treating myself as a machine — in the gym, just busting my ass constantly, constantly, constantly. Didn’t have anything else other than being the dad, trying to be the best dad you can be and be the best athlete you can be. Didn’t have any time for anything else. No ‘me time’ or anything like that, and I’m OK with that. That’s what it takes to be elite. But now I get that. I didn’t know that [before]. Right then, I’m like, ‘Man, how much longer do I have in this sport? Am I going to be OK after I’m done?’
“I had a responsibility where all this money’s coming in so there was that thing where I was like, ‘Alright, I’m champion. I can make so much money now. How much longer do I still have?’ So it was a few different types of pressures and not a good understanding on my end. But after the two, obviously, knockouts, I’m like, you know what? I made the decision and accepted the decision to have a proper break. That wasn’t my decision previously. I wanted to fight [after the Makhachev loss] and I was getting held back, and I was still doing the full training schedule with nothing really in sight. And that was just weird for me. Where now I was like, alright, I got nothing locked in. I can just work on myself, work on [my YouTube show] ‘Cooking with Volk.'”
The obsessive dedication Volkanovski has shown toward his MMA career obviously paid off. Aside from being considered arguably the best featherweight fighter in UFC history, Volkanovski has delivered multiple performances that struck audiences as truly masterful.
In the past, Volkanovski felt his life revolved around whatever his MMA schedule demanded. That’s been the most significant change he’s made during his time away, he said, allowing the world to revolve around him and his needs rather than the other way around.
“The growth I had in myself was incredible. I learned so much. It’s incredible, it really is,” Volkanovski said. “So now I know what it is. I know when I’m in camp — so right now, I’ve got that fighter’s identity again. And a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, it’s a bad thing.’ That’s what it takes to be elite. You want to be the best fighter in the world, you’ve got to sacrifice everything and you even sacrifice a bit of yourself.
“I sacrificed a lot of myself for so many years to be able to look after my family, and that’s just what it takes. And I’m OK with that, especially now [with] the fact that I know I’m going to be all right afterward. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be all right before. Now I know I will. I feel great. The time off was incredible. I started thinking, ‘Man, am I going to go back?’ That’s how much I was enjoying it. It’s crazy.
“I was like, ‘Man, how am I going to flip the switch?'” he continued. “I would have the conversation knowing that, look, when the time comes, I will flip the switch. So I had confidence that I can do it, but there were still doubts of me questioning myself. ‘Are you? Are you going to be able to? Are you going to be the same guy? You’ve never done this before. You’ve always just [gone] straight back in the gym, training schedule, and just worked life around your training schedule.'”
Despite still being one of the best in the featherweight division, Volkanovski has felt a chip steadily growing on his shoulder. In his losses, he was counted out as the betting underdog. Because of the knockouts in the last two, he said, he now feels counted out once again.
The Lopes matchup, Volkanovski hopes, will remind the world that he earned his place among the pantheon of featherweight greats — and that he’s not done just yet.
“Everyone’s going to change their tone after this one, I guarantee you,” Volkanovski said. “Everyone has every right [to doubt me]. I’m coming off two losses, [I’m] 36 — 37 at the end of the year. So a lot of people are going to be like, ‘Ah, he’s done, he’s dusted,’ and they have every right to think that until I change their mind. So that’s what I plan on doing in April.”
