Israel Adesanya says Alex Volkanovski is UFC’s most underrated champion
Aussie UFC weapon Alex Volkanovski was a surprise featherweight title winner, and a fellow champion says he still doesn’t get the respect he deserves.
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Australia’s Alex Volkanovski has been labelled the most underrated UFC world champion by fellow titleholder Israel Adesanya.
New South Welshman Volkanovski stunned the UFC world, but not himself, by upsetting fabled Hawaiian Max Holloway and winning the featherweight title last December.
A potential rematch was talked about, but not agreed, before the coronavirus pandemic shut down UFC shows in March, though they resumed earlier this month.
Volkanovski had hoped to make his first defence in Australia, but the UFC 251 card scheduled for Perth on June 7 was postponed.
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Despite the delay, Volkanovski’s stocks continue to rise.
Nigerian-born New Zealander Adesanya, who took the middleweight title off Australia’s Robert Whittaker in Melbourne last October, is among Volkanovski’s admirers.
The two men are also stablemates at the City Kickboxing Gym in Auckland, where Volkanovski does some of his preparations for each fight.
“Alex is probably the most underrated champion in the UFC,” Adesanya said.
Both Adesanya and Volkanovski moved up one spot in the new UFC pound-for-pound rankings to fourth and seventh respectively after the retirement earlier this month of third-ranked Henry Cejudo who won world titles at flyweight and featherweight.
Volkanovski got fight fans excited on Monday when he posted something on his Twitter feed which had Cejudo declaring his interest in challenging the Australian.
It might have been an older statement as it wasn’t on any of Cejudo’s social media accounts on Monday, but Volkanovski was certainly interested in a fight with the American.
“Let’s do it then boy!!” Volkanovski tweeted.
Volkanovski, Whittaker and Adesanya are among the non-American fighters who have expressed a desire to be part of any Fight Island promotions the UFC hold outside the United States.
Adesanya, who successfully defended his middleweight title a week before UFC went into hiatus, said he would be ready to fight again in July or August.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to competing be it either Fight Island or be it at the UFC Apex. (in Las Vegas),” said Adesanya, who won New Zealand’s 2019 Sportsman of the Year award.
Whittaker hasn’t fought since losing the title to Adesanya, taking a break after Christmas because he felt burnt out, but has since returned to training. “He had an epiphany on what he’s doing with his life,” Adesanya said of Whittaker.
“Life isn’t just about training.”
Originally published as Israel Adesanya says Alex Volkanovski is UFC’s most underrated champion