Alexander Volkanovski has laughed off an attempt by UFC featherweight contender Ilia Topuria to rush him as he left the Octagon after a stunning UFC 290 win, warning: “The s… he’s doing ain’t gonna work on me”.
Volkanovski had not even finished celebrating with fans after Saturday night’s [local time] title defence against Yair Rodriguez here in Las Vegas when Topuria, who had been watching from the T-Mobile Arena crowd, jumped a makeshift arena fence to face the champ.
The Spanish phenom is undefeated in all 14 professional bouts, which includes six UFC appearances, and during an interview with The Mac Life in fight week said of Volkanovski “I can crush his small head”.
Yet when asked about the exchange after his win over Rodriguez, the UFC featherweight champ laughed off the approach – and revealed he had actually encouraged it.
“I told him ‘yeah, c’mon jump over, let’s do a little face off. Let’s amp it up a little bit’,” Volkanovski said.
And when the pair of you did get close?
“I actually said to him ‘man, I thought you were a bit taller’,” the Aussie continued.
“Everyone is so much taller than me, but we were eye to eye.
“But no disrespect to the bloke, he’s a good fighter, undefeated and I can’t wait to take that zero.”
Throughout fight week, Volkanovski continually told reporters he was unimpressed with Topuira, despite him being ranked No.5 in their division.
After defeating Rodriguez at UFC 290, and then seeing the man who could be next for him up close, the Aussie star said nothing had changed.
While Volkanovski wants a rematch with UFC lightweight champ Islam Makhachev next – or, next best, a shot at the BMF title – his team revealed that he requires surgery on a left elbow issue.
Should the recovery take longer than expected, and the lightweight landscape change, Topuira would loom as the most logical contender for the former Warilla Gorilla.
But as for his thoughts?
MORE UFC 290 NEWS
‘CARRYING ON’: Rant may spark UFC’s $300m Sydney solution after Aussie woes
‘GREEN LIGHT’: UFC boss grants Volk special fight privileges after secret injury
‘He’s a clown!’: Dricus discusses Israel | 05:57
“It’s funny with this one, you wanna talk up your opponents right?” Volkanovski said.
“And I was sitting there (during fight week interviews) thinking maybe I shouldn’t say how easy I think that fight is going to be because then people might not be interested.
“But he’s gonna talk his s… so people are going to want to see me punch him in the face, so it don’t matter.
“No disrespect to the bloke, but the s… he’s doing ain’t gonna work on me. And hopefully you get to see that soon.”
Speaking at the UFC 290 press conference, Volk was also asked if he should now finally be considered the featherweight GOAT ahead of Jose Aldo?
“The man just got into the Hall of Fame,” Volkanovski said of the Brazilian great who he himself at UFC 237. “And well deserved.
“So I’ll let other people decide that.
“He’s an absolute legend of the sport, no one deserves a Hall of Fame spot more than him.
“And to see how passionate he was, that was as raw as it got, which was really cool to see. Almost brought a tear to my eye to be honest.
“Absolute legend.
“So that’s for other people to decide, not me.”
MORE UFC 290 NEWS
‘JUST A SCRATCH’: Kiwi’s brutal X-ray reveal after ‘absolutely bonkers’ win
‘THE F*** YOU GONNA DO’: Champ erupts in fiery rant, fuse lit for Syd showdown
‘NO DENYING IT’: Greats declare Aussie Volk the ’best in the world’
Volk dominant in UFC 290 title defense | 02:25
Volk also talked through his incredible finish, which after landing some big punches, then saw him picking up his rival, dumping him and then finishing on the ground.
“Throwing the punches, even though he was hurt, I’ve seen him in these positions throw crazy s…, like elbows,” Volkanovski explained.
“So I thought, alright I better take him down because I know I can score some punches on the canvas.
“It was weird how calm and composed I was.
“Dumped him and was ‘ah, yeah, this is the position, he won’t get out, let’s just ground and pound and they’re going to have to stop it’.
“It was weird how I went through it.
“I probably should’ve loaded them up a little bit more, really been dramatic with it, but I love my ground and pound, it’s starting to be a bit more of an iconic Volk tradition.
“Just rain down some ground and pound.”
Du Plessis breaks Bobby with brutal TKO! | 01:44
Asked how he was able to negate Rodriguez, considered the most unpredictable and dangerous striker in the division, he said: “I was able to systematically break him down and take away a lot of his main tools,” the champ said.
“He was always going to be able to throw things so he’s always going to be dangerous. But I was able to nullify a lot of his tools.
“So what we’ve seen from him, he couldn’t do that with me.
“There might’ve been one exchange where things landed a lot harder. Second round maybe?
“There was one where a punch landed and I thought ‘oh, that got in’. I was fine but he did a good job there.
“I was like ‘yeah, nice’.
“Other than that, even though he was flicking stuff out, maybe touching the top of the head and stuff like that, I was still comfortable in there and seeing it all coming.
“So I just had to pick the right moments.
“He’s the type of guy where you need to be careful, be smart.”