UFC 290: How Alex Volkanovski went from the ‘champ nobody wanted’ to a global star
Even after becoming a UFC champion, Alex Volkanovski’s credentials were questioned overseas. Now, the featherweight GOAT is a global star.
A decade ago, Alex Volkanovski was seriously contemplating whether this whole cage fighting caper was really worth it.
Back then, the Warrilla Gorillas front-rower was working on construction sites to make ends meet, and with a young family to support, he wondered whether it was responsible to keep chasing the elusive dream of making the UFC.
“Back in the day, Volk had to move out of his house and move in with his mum, wife and baby daughter,” Volkanovski’s coach, Joe Lopez, tells this masthead.
“He was relying on sponsors, hoping one would come along and at one stage he was thinking of giving it all up.”
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It’s scarcely believable to see him now as one of the pound-for-pound best fighters on the planet, the greatest featherweight ever and an in-demand athlete who just flew to Puerto Rico to film a podcast with YouTube sensation Logan Paul.
“It’s weird for me,” Volkanovski says of his whirlwind trip to film with Paul. “I’m just going about my everyday life, normal, just me.
“I don’t really think of myself as someone in that position. I think of myself as the same guy I was 20 years ago. But then I am doing all these things, and, far out … it’s pretty crazy.”
Volkanovski can barely leave his house without dozens of fans asking for photos and autographs.
A natural people-person who loves a yarn, it often falls to Lopez to tell his fans to move on.
“A fan will come up and start talking to him, and Volk loves a chat so much that the fan will end up trying to get away from him,” he says.
“He’s just so engaging with people. It’s a gift.”
Yet, while he’s always had a faithful legion of Aussie fans, winning over a sceptical American market was a slow burn. Perhaps it was his lightning quick rise to the top, or maybe it was his wins over two featherweight favourites in Jose Aldo and Max Holloway, but Volkanovski was on the nose for several years Stateside.
It took Volkanovski longer to crack the UFC than it took for him to become champion once he arrived.
Four-and-a-half years and 14 fights went by between his professional debut and his UFC call-up. Then it took him just over three years and seven bouts to earn a title fight with Max Holloway.
The records show that Volkanovski won the first two of his three fights with Holloway by decision. But a large portion of UFC fans believe Holloway – a Hawaiian legend who was regarded as the best featherweight ever at the time – was robbed.
Volkanovski received an avalanche of criticism online after the second fight in particular.
For an easygoing guy, who had done nothing wrong and wanted to be liked, it was a significant body blow.
“Alex wanted to be the champ, and then he beats Max, but even Dana White came out and said he lost that fight,” Volkanovski’s manager Ash Belcastro says.
“So, you become champion and it wasn’t what you wanted or expected it to be.
“It was a struggle. It was tough. He did a lot of work on himself and he’s openly spoken about working with a sports psychologist.
“He cared a lot about what people thought about him. He read the comments and that was weighing on him a lot.”
It was when Volkanovski stopped trying to be everything to everyone that things changed.
“You could almost see it in interviews where it felt like he had to justify what he was saying,” Belcastro says.
“When he relaxed and just became himself, he really started to shine.”
Meanwhile, inside the cage, he kept putting on undeniably high-level performances, beating title challengers Brian Ortega and Jung Chan-sung before a third fight with Holloway
Volkanovski put an exclamation mark on his title reign, scoring a decisive and one-sided victory.
“People say Max was declining, but that’s just my performance and what I did to him and the level I’m at,” he said. “Look at what he’s still doing to all the other guys in the division still.
“If I wasn’t here, he’d be pound-for-pound number one. He’d be killing it, defending his belt for the 12th or 13th time, just murdering opponents.”
And finally, the tables started to turn.
His lightweight title tilt against Islam Makhachev in February was one of the best performing events ever. He wasn’t given much hope of winning, but his narrow defeat earned him a huge amount of respect.
He now has sponsors and endorsements to set him up for life and a popular YouTube channel with more than 250,000 subscribers.
Bigger still, next weekend he will headline the UFC‘s annual International Fight Week when he defends his featherweight title against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 in Las Vegas.
“He became a champion then became better as a fighter and as a person,” Belcastro says. “He said yes to every fight and was able to sway the fans back.
“For him to turn it around from being the champ nobody wanted, to being praised and now headlining International Fight Week – arguably the biggest week of the UFC’s calendar – it’s something I’m really proud to be a part of and to call him a mate.”
He’s come a long way from living sponsor to sponsor and contemplating packing it all in.
“I wish I could soak it up more,” he says. “There’s a lot of people who wish they could be in my position, but I’m always thinking ‘I’ve gotta get back to training, I need to get back to my family’.
“I do wish I could capture those moments a little bit more.”
Through it all, he’s remained grounded, has never let the inevitable “yes men” and hangers on distract him, and, as always, is only too keen for a yarn.
“It does my head in answering the same question over and over,” Lopez laughs. “But he answers every question like it’s being asked for the first time.
“Man, that’s a gift I haven’t got.
“So, he just deserves everything he gets for all of his hard work and the way he is as a person and as a champion.”
Aussie left scrambling after opponent pulls out on late notice
Jack Della Maddalena has been left scrambling for a replacement fight after his opponent Sean Brady pulled out of their scheduled UFC 290 clash.
Brady posted a photo of himself in hospital to Instagram just over a week out from the pay-per-view event, which will be headlined by Alex Volknanovski’s featherweight title defence with Yair Rodriguez.
The UFC confirmed Brady’s withdrawal, saying a replacement is currently being sought for Della Maddalena.
“Brady has s*** the bed,” Della Maddalena wrote on Instagram. “Open challenge to anyone in the promotion. 170 - 185 International fight week.”
Welterweight prospect Joaquin Buckley was asked if he wanted the fight, but said he couldn’t make the welterweight limit in time.
In a video posted to Instagram, Della Maddalena asked if Buckley would fight at middleweight instead, but the American only wanted a bout at 170-pounds.
The pair shook hands on a fight on the UFC 293 card in Australia, but Della Maddalena still wants to fight next weekend.
Originally published as UFC 290: How Alex Volkanovski went from the ‘champ nobody wanted’ to a global star
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