Eugene Bareman: Alexander Volkanovski 'needs to be sensible' about rushing back too quickly

City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman finds himself in a tough spot knowing Alexander Volkanovski should rest up but also eager to rematch Ilia Topuria.

City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman provided a positive update on Alexander Volkanovski’s health.

Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) lost his featherweight title to Ilia Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) by knockout in the UFC 298 headliner earlier this month. Volkanovski called for a rematch, but many have urged him to take some time off after suffering his second consecutive knockout loss.

While he acknowledges that recovery time is necessary, Bareman said the damage done to Volkanovski in his knockout loss to Topuria is not as bad as the one suffered to Islam Makhachev last October.

“In terms of like, his symptoms, he doesn’t have any symptoms, which was not the case in the last knockout,” Bareman told Combat TV. “There’s so many variables when it comes to having a knockout and how many symptoms you suffer and all of that. I don’t know the science behind it, and I’m not going to begin to try to understand it.

“But he seems to not be as affected by this concussion as he was by the last one. I wouldn’t be able to tell you why. He definitely needs to rest. He needs to rest his head. He needs to be sensible, but he also will be very keen to get that rematch this year.”

With UFC CEO Dana White confirming the promotion’s plans to have Topuria make his first title defense in Spain later this year, Volkanovski said he’s willing to fight there to get his rematch.