Alexander Volkanovski Recalls Challenges He Faced Before Accepting Islam Makhachev Rematch at UFC 294

Former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski opens up about the dark phase of his life before accepting the short-notice rematch against Islam Makhachev at UFC 294.

By Nayan Kumawat

Published on Jul 06, 2024 | 01:00 AM IST | 77.3K

Image Courtesy : Getty Images

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Alexander Volkanovski reveals the dark time of life
Alexander Volkanovski UFC record

The downfall of former UFC featherweight champion and ex-pound-for-pound for number one ranked UFC fighter Alexander Volkanovski from 2023 to 2024 can be ranked as one of the most drastic falls in the history of mixed martial arts.

Alexander Volkanovski dominated the UFC's featherweight division for almost half a decade. At the start of the year 2023, Alexander Volkanovski faced UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in a champion vs. champion match, and actually, in Islam Makhachev’s long-run UFC, somebody made him look human and bruised him totally in the octagon.

Multiple experts and fight fans still believe Alexander Volkanovski was the actual winner of the match, but judges favored the match in favor of Islam Makhachev.

Islam Makhachev was all set to return at UFC 294, and he was booked to lock horns with former UFC lightweight Charles Oliveira, whom he defeated to capture the UFC lightweight championship.

Do Bronx was all set to recapture his lightweight gold, but unfortunately, Charles Oliveira was forced to withdraw himself from the main event eleven days before the UFC 294.

Surprisingly, UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski accepted the short notice. The fight went extremely wrong when Islam Makhachev slept Volaknovski for the first in his UFC career with a head kick.

And this year at UFC 298, Ilia Topuria cleanly knocked out Alexander Volkanovski in round two of the championship match and ended the dominating reign of The Great.

Alexander Volkanovski reveals the dark time of life

Recently, Alexander Volkanovski appeared on Izzy’s brother's podcast. While discussing his sudden fall, The Great revealed his patchy life before accepting Islam Makhachev's rematch.

Alexander Volkanovski expressed, “Before the second Islam fight, going through a bit of a rough patch there, a bit of that was because I wasn't in the gym through injury. Obviously, we'd had the newborn and that as well.”

He continued, “So I had a lot happening, but I couldn't switch my brain off from fighting. I was still [thinking], 'Man, how much longer do I have in the sport? I should be in the gym. I should be doing this.' And 'cause I'm no, 'Oh man, what's going on?' It was hard for me to find real purpose in the gym unless I was training for a fight. A few things were going on."