Alexander Volkanovski plans on taking time off – until rematch with new champ Ilia Topuria
The next time Alexander Volkanovski plans on fighting is in a rematch against Ilia Topuria.
Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) was knocked out by Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in the UFC 298 headliner earlier this month and lost the featherweight title.
Many questioned Volkanovski’s decision to face Topuria just four months after being knocked out by Islam Makhachev this past October, but Volkanovski understands that some time off is now necessary.
“Being champion, I felt like I had to be busy because I felt like that was a standard of a champion,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “Not only that, I wanted to capitalize on the legacy. I wanted to get as many defenses so, I needed to get back in there. How much longer are you going to be in your prime?
“You need to make the most of this, get the defenses, get that money in. There’s always pressures of that, so I felt like you would live life around a training schedule. … Right now, a break is obviously good for the head, so it makes sense. And I know I ain’t fighting until the rematch, which isn’t going to be until later this year anyway, so it’s perfect.”
Volkanovski is OK with Topuria’s first title defense being against someone else, just as long as he gets to run things back with him when he returns.
“I know my next fight is definitely going to be for the title, and the rematch,” Volkanovski said. “But if he was to go somewhere else because he wanted to be active, which I would be more than OK with – if he wanted to be really active and have a quick turnaround – obviously I’m not going to do that because of my head (from the knockout). You want to take that serious. But my next fight will definitely, 100 percent be the rematch.”
Volkanovski admits that coming off the knockout loss to Makhachev rendered him defensive in the fight, which isn’t how he usually competes.
“(I’ve had) being caught (vs. Makhachev) on my mind,” Volkanovski said. “Look, people are going to speculate and say, ‘He’s chinny. It wasn’t a long enough break.’ I think my team did a great job. But was it on my mind? Yeah. Obviously, I told myself it wouldn’t be. That’s what I mean when I say I was in two minds in there.
“I was fighting like, ‘I can’t get caught,’ but trying to tell myself, ‘You’re all good – come on. You’ve got to start going. Start fighting your fight.’ It was a tricky one. Maybe it did (play a factor). That makes me take this serious. It’s two (knockouts) in a row now. Put it this way: I’m not planning on having a quick turnaround like I did after the October fight with Islam.”