Alexander Volkanovski’s celebration was a couple of drinks on the flight home, a first-class upgrade with his wife and a night in Sydney before getting back to being Dad.
After everything it took to get there, he wanted a little time to appreciate this one.
Gallen v Asofa-Solomona | Friday November 6 from 7pm AEDT | Australian sporting icon and crossover boxing king Paul Gallen returns to the ring to face his biggest opponent yet, Nelson ‘Big Nasty’ Asofa-Solomona. | Order now on Kayo Sports.
Still nursing a cough and sporting a few cuts and bruises on his face, the Aussie champion spoke to Fox Sports Australia in Sydney on Monday morning, fresh from stopping previously unbeaten Russian bogeyman Movsar Evloev at UFC 333.
He detailed his whirlwind journey home – and the illness scare that left him worried about whether he could safely get through his weight cut.
Volk also revealed he declined a medical treatment despite assurances from his management, doctors and the UFC that he was allowed to receive it.
First, though, there was an early flight to catch. Only a small window to sleep. And a decision about whether to bother going to bed at all.
“Straight after the fight, I got to have my family and friends come backstage. I got to share those moments,” Volkanovski told Fox Sports Australia.
“Then we went back to the hotel and pretty much just had to go to bed because we had an early flight.
“So our decision was, do we sleep for an hour or do we just stay out?
“I wondered if I’d be able to. Fortunately I was able to sleep, which was cool.”
Then it was off to the airport with his wife Emma and members of the team who had helped get him through another title defence.
There, the champ pulled some strings and arranged a few upgrades.
“Everyone got a bit of a little upgrade as well, which was cool. So then we were able to share a couple of drinks on the flight,” he said.
“Which I really enjoyed, and we had some good conversation. So that was my celebration.
“And then … I upgraded myself and the wife to first class, which is the first time we’ve ever done that, which was cool.
“So that was our celebration.
“As I said, it was our wedding anniversary a few days before. I didn’t really have a gift while I was in fight week. She said ‘make it a quick fight and that could be the present’.”
On landing in Sydney, the couple headed to Crown for a night together.
It was a deliberate change after his previous Sydney fight, when the return to family life happened so quickly he felt the occasion had passed him by.
“Last time I fought in Sydney we went home, and then I woke up and was just Dad. It was like I didn’t fight,” he said.
“I love the dad stuff, but I felt like I didn’t get to appreciate or even celebrate or anything with the fight. I didn’t like it.”
This time, even a bourbon and Coke on the trip home could serve as a moment to take it all in.
“That’s why I wanted to stay one night with the wife,” he said.
“I feel like this is my way of celebrating.”
Behind that quiet celebration was a considerably more difficult fight week than his performance suggested.
As he became ill, Volk was determined to compete. His biggest concern was whether sickness and the demands of making weight might combine to leave him in serious trouble.
“As you are getting sick, you are thinking, where does this go?” he said.
“The fever starts coming and all this sort of stuff. I’m thinking by fight time, that could be gone.”
What worried him was the possibility of needing someone to call the UFC and say: “Alex needs to go to hospital right now halfway through his cut.”
It never reached that point.
“But I knew if I get through the weight cut, I don’t care,” he said.
“I’m feeling terrible now, but as soon as I get to eat and hydrate and all that sort of stuff … I’m going to feel a million times better than now.
“So who cares? But let’s just hope I can get there.”
Pico pays tribute to ‘inspiration’ Volk | 03:12
Volk said he was also offered treatment, although he could not recall its name.
“There’s stuff that you can have that you can’t have in competition unless it’s a medical emergency, and they were offering me that,” he said.
He declined.
“They were saying I could do it legally. I just said I’m not doing it,” he said.
“My management, doctors and the UFC were all telling me I’m allowed.
“I said ‘but he [Evloev] isn’t’. I didn’t want that on my conscience.”
Even inside the cage, he was thinking about what his lungs could handle.
After a strategic opening against Evloev, Volk began looking to impose himself and find a finish with his right hand.
“You could see that I started putting that pressure on, especially in the second round,” he said.
“It was like, alright, let’s start finding this finish.
“I don’t want to go five rounds. I don’t know if these lungs could hold up.”
READ MORE
‘PRIME VOLK’: Coach’s stunning call as bold game plan, illness battle revealed after epic title triumph
Volk eyes off Gaethje superfight | 00:47
The result now sits “right up there” among his most memorable fights, alongside his first meeting with Islam Makhachev in Perth.
At 38, he remains convinced he can keep producing those performances. Getting through the preparation is the harder part.
“My work ethic and all that’s always going to get me through,” he said.
“It’s just much harder to maintain at 38.”
And while the latest victory might still be sinking in, something else has stayed with him.
“I now just have a deep appreciation of everything,” he said.
“Not just the fight itself.
“Of me being where I am and doing what I’m doing. And I love the support from everyone.”