After having done 14 fights without being ready in the UFC, the former featherweight champion is now losing back-to-back knockout.
This has led to some fans criticizing Alexander Volkanovski about his recent comments regarding his mentality.
'The Great' is still sure that he is one of the very best in the world and he will try to prove that on UFC 314 where Volanovski stands for Diego Lopes for the empty title.
The suffering of a devastating knockout loss will certainly shake the trust of every hunter and Volkanovski admitted that planning of his return was not a simple process.
However, there is an important story from his last outing that many believe it will be crucial on both April 12 and the rest of his career.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty images
Alexander Volkanovski says he felt the impact of the rapid change when stepping in the cage at UFC 298
The results on his record alone do not necessarily tell the full story of the recent form of Alexander Volkanovski.
In the short term, he came in much less than ideal conditions for his rematch with Islam Makhachev on UFC 294 where he was stopped in the first round.
Despite many fans, fighters and people around him, Volkanovski decided to continue with the next defense of his featherweight title that came only a few months later.
You can certainly not take anything away from Ilia Topuria on UFC 298, but there was a question whether the rapid change of the defending champion of a knockout loss had influenced his performance.
The fans of Volkanovski will hope that now he has had serious free time, he looks back on his best against Diego Lopes in Miami.
In a recent interview with Demetrious Johnson on the MightyCast, the former champion spoke about how he believes that he was struck by the turnaround, even though he was completely confident during his preparations.
“I said I would never keep divisions. Many people thought I was angry with Ilia Topuria three months later, but nobody could have changed thoughts. That was what I had, I am something like that:” No, I am sweet, I am going back. This is my job, my responsibility. I said I would not hold any departments, I wouldn't hold it. ” They are like: 'Oh what about a knockout loss, that rumbles with your self -confidence and such. ”
“I call B ——- There is no way about that, I didn't believe that. You couldn't have told me that and the only time I might felt something, a bit, was when I was in the cage. That was where I was,” Okay, maybe something is wrong. “
Although Volkanovski did not specifically give away what he believes that was affected in the fight, he added that it had happened consistently in his training camp afterwards.
After the fight, many people pointed out how Volkanovski withdrew from the stock exchanges with Topuria, making him susceptible to a big shot over the top, which could be what 'the great' refers to, although that is not confirmed here.
“Even looking back, I even did it even in the camp for that, but I mean, you couldn't have told me, but anyway, I will not go into it.”
Alexander Volkanovski must have brought these losses behind him by UFC 314
Although the fast turning point was certainly a point of discussion at UFC 298, we do not know how Alexander Volkanovski will recover from back-to-back knockout.
Taking a number of serious free time was certainly the right call and it seems that the Aussie used this time to really decompcrimage the pressure of training and fighting.
In Diego Lopes he is confronted with an opponent who certainly has no self -belief and that makes the Brazilian a dangerous opponent.
We have seen Volkanovski in the past with aggressive and powerful individuals, but this time the big question is whether he can do it in his incredible career at this point.
If he can shake those losses and go back to the champion that Yair Rodriguez stopped in his last defense of the featherweight title, he will certainly be the favorite in 12 April.
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