UFC 312: Alex Volkanovski on Colby Thicknesse, Dricus du Plessis takes aim at Sydney fans at fiery weigh-in

Colby Thicknesse will have Alex Volkanovski in his corner when he makes his UFC debut. And, the Aussie legend of the sport is tipping big things from his protege.

It’s been four years since Aussie UFC superstar Alex Volkanovski worked a corner on fight night.

And the former featherweight champion says he’s more nervous preparing to work his teammate Colby Thicknesse’s corner today than for his own fights.

Thicknesse will make his UFC debut against fellow debutant Aleksandre Topuria, who is the older brother of Volk’s rival, current featherweight champion, Ilia.

“I get more excited and more nervous cornering than I do fighting,” Volkanovski told this masthead.

“When I’m fighting, I can control exactly what I’m doing in there, but I can’t control what they’re going to do.

“I get real nervous. I’ve gotta try and control my nerves a little bit and not get too excited.”

Volkanovski, who has trained with Thicknesse since “Slickness” was just 11 years old, says he’s happy to take a backseat to head coach Joe Lopez once the fight starts.

Alex Volkanovski says he gets more nervous when cornering than fighting. Picture: Simon Bullard

“I won’t say too much, just little things here and there if I see things,” he said.

“I’ll leave it to Joe and if it gets to the ground, I’ll leave that to Craig (BJJ legend Craig Jones).

“I might have the ice bucket, and I’ll be on the timer as well.”

One of Australia’s brightest rising MMA prospects, Thicknesse travelled with Volkanovski when the then-featherweight champion coached on The Ultimate Fighter 29.

He was also in camp in Las Vegas when Volk made his last successful featherweight title defence against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 in 2023.

“He’s been with us the whole journey,” Volkanovski said.

“We wanted him to get some local and national belts – which he did – before we started pushing him to the UFC.

“Now, he’s in the UFC straight away. He was getting finishes, he’s the perfect age and the UFC was always going to have their eye on him.”

Alex Volkanovski battles Islam Makhachev.

Volkanovski is preparing to fight either Ilia Topuria or Diego Lopes, with April’s UFC 314 loosely scheduled in as a return date.

Avenging his shock knockout loss to Topuria is high on his agenda, but Volkanovski says there’s no bad blood between them.

“We saw each other yesterday, but we’re pretty cool with each other,” he said.

“It’s all good, but I’m like that with all my opponents anyway.

“Once the fight gets announced – if it does get announced – maybe when there’s promotion around it, that talk comes back around again.

“First we just need to get a fight locked in.”

‘YOU BOO LIKE LOSERS’: UFC STAR TAKES AIM AT SYDNEY FANS

Sean Strickland wore an Akubra and promised to “try and shorten this man’s life” after successfully making weight in front of a raucous crowd ahead of his UFC 312 middleweight title fight with Dricus du Plessis.

Meanwhile, for the fourth fight in succession, Du Plessis leaned into his villain status and hit out at the boos that came his way.

Six months after upsetting Israel Adesanya Perth to claim the title, South Africa’s du Plessis took aim at the Sydney crowd.

“For so many people here, Perth is kicking your ass,” he said.

“You boo like losers.

“Just like in Perth, I’m gonna take your boy out. Enjoy the jeers while you still can.”

Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland come face-to-face. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Du Plessis and Strickland both made the 185-pound title fight limit, with Strickland promising violence on Sunday.

“I can’t wait to go out there and try to shorten this man’s life for you f***ers,” he said. “To the death, Dutch man.”

Reigning strawweight champion Zhang Weili looked like she did the weight easily, tipping the scales at 115 even, compared to 114.5 for challenger Tatiana Suarez.

Weili pumped the crowd up with an “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi oi, oi” chant.

The most-hyped fight between a pair of debutants in recent UFC memory was also made official, with Colby Thicknesse and Aleksandre Topuria both making the bantamweight limit.

Thicknesse is a longtime training partner of Alex Volkanovski, and received a late-notice call-up two weeks before the fight when Cody Haddon was forced out with injury.

Topuria is the older brother of featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, who shocked Volkanovski to claim the title a year ago.

Topuria was all smiles as his team sang songs in Spanish as he hit the scales at the official weigh in earlier on Friday afternoon.

Originally published as UFC 312: Alex Volkanovski on Colby Thicknesse, Dricus du Plessis takes aim at Sydney fans at fiery weigh-in