UFC Vederweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski almost walked away after the recovery of the belt on UFC 314.
Alexander Volkanovski conquered back-to-back knockout losses to regain the UFC-Fedgeweight title about Diego Lopes at UFC 314 earlier this year. Volkanovski defeated Lopes through a unanimous decision in a horrible five-round Slugfest to make it somewhat.
Volkanovski, one of the best pound-for-pound hunters in MMA, has repeatedly shared the inner conflicts that he has treated during his recent losing Skid. He admitted that if he had lost Lopes on UFC 314, he would probably have hung up the gloves and went to other companies.
After his victory, Volkanovski is back in the driver's seat in the UFC Featherweight Division. But Volkanovski still heard pension calls in his inner circle after his bounceback performance.
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Alexander Volkanovski reveals that his whole family wanted to retire after UFC 314
During a recent performance on the MightyCast -Podcast, Volkanovski revealed how his family embraced his victory over UFC 314 and gave a surprising answer.
“Immediately after the fight my whole family is just like” Why didn't you just put the gloves in the middle of the octagon? “, Do they all want me to retire,” said Volkanovski.
“They all wanted me to do that, but now that I make the decision to continue, I'm probably not going to bring that pure back because they are worried about influencing my state of mind. What it would be fine, they can say what they want, and maybe they just try to be selective. But they made it clear that I stopped immediately after this fight.
“And I'm really going to be, nobody wants to talk about this … but I always fought for money, took care of my family,” Volkanovski continued. “If I go into the face to do that, then whatever, and I will try not to do it! It is never about my real legacy. Yes, inheritance I leave behind, will only help me build my empire for my family. And that is all that is important to me, the inheritance will come with that.”
The knockout losses of Volkanovski for Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev were the first consecutive defeats of his legendary career. After he fell to Topuria on UFC 298, Volkanovski took the Octagon for more than a year to decompry and recover his trust, a decision that is bearing fruit.
It is remarkable that the victory of Volkanovski came over UFC 314 despite a serious hand injury that he had only been fighting for a few minutes. Fortunately, the injury was not serious and Volkanovski expects to return to the Octagon later this year.
But anyone who will be confronted with Volkanovski for his first featherweight title defense of his second regime remains a mystery.
Alexander Volkanovski's first title defense of Second Reign still uncertain
Unbeaten featherweight competition Movsar Evloev will be confronted with UFC debutant Aaron Pico at UFC Abu Dhabi later this month. As UFC CEO Dana White recently confirmed, EVLOEV will earn a title shot for his next fight with a victory over Pico.
But one of the former rivals of Volkanovski also stands in the mix for a title shot after a victory over UFC 314. Yair Rodriguez is said to be the next opponent of Volkanovski after his victory over Patricio 'Pitbull' by unanimous decision.
At the moment nothing has been made officially with regard to the next fight by Volkanovski. Evloev's performance later this month could go a long way when determining the next matchup of featherweight title.