Alex Volkanovski News

Harry Kettle - October 13, 2023

Islam Makhachev’s head coach Javier Mendez has given his thoughts on what Alexander Volkanovski may do differently at UFC 294. Next weekend, on short notice, Alexander Volkanovski will step in for the injured Charles Oliveira and challenge Islam Makhachev for the UFC lightweight championship. It will serve as his second attempt at claiming Makhachev’s belt following a close decision defeat earlier this year.

Cole Shelton - October 11, 2023

The UFC returns to Abu Dhabi next Saturday for UFC 294 and the card has changed quite a bit, but Islam Makhachev will remain atop the bill. Makhachev was originally supposed to defend his lightweight title at UFC 294 in a rematch against Charles Oliveira. The co-main event was supposed to be a middleweight fight between Paulo Costa and Khamzat Chimaev. However, in the past 24 hours, it was revealed that Makhachev will now be rematching Alexander Volkanovski in the main event for the lightweight title. Also, in the co-main event, Kamaru Usman has replaced Paulo Costa and will now face Khamzat Chimaev.

Susan Cox - October 11, 2023

Islam Makhachev is reacting to Alexander Volkanovski replacing Charles Oliveira at UFC 294. UFC 294 takes place on Saturday October 21st at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Cole Shelton - October 10, 2023

Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski are set to run it back in the main event of UFC 294. The folks at the Overdogs Podcast just announced that Charles Oliveira is out of his lightweight title fight on Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi against Makhachev, and Volkanovski has agreed to step in on short notice to rematch Makhachev in less than two weeks. ESPN has since confirmed the news.

Josh Evanoff - September 28, 2023

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski recently got some work with Jamal Murray. ‘The Great’ has been out of the cage since a knockout win over Yair Rodriguez in July at UFC 290. Since then, the featherweight champion has called out a variety of names, including Islam Makhachev. However, as of now, Alexander Volkanovski has yet to book his return to the cage.

Josh Evanoff - September 26, 2023

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will seemingly return early next year. ‘The Great’ has been out of action since a title defense against Yair Rodriguez in July at UFC 290. There, Alexander Volkanovski scored a third-round stoppage victory over ‘El Pantera’. That was a massive win for the champion, as he was coming off a controversial loss to Islam Makhachev in February.

Josh Evanoff - September 19, 2023

UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley isn’t calling to fight Alexander Volkanovski, but he believes he would win. ‘Sugar’ is fresh off his championship win last month in the main event of UFC 292. There, Sean O’Malley faced longtime bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. ‘The Funk Master’ had previously teased a move to featherweight to face titleholder Alexander Volkanovski, and ‘The Great’ showed interest.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - September 12, 2023

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski thinks a rematch against lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev is in order. Makhachev is preparing for a rematch against Charles Oliveira. The current 155-pound champion defeated Oliveira to capture the gold via second-round submission last year. Makhachev followed that up with a close, but unanimous decision victory over Volkanovski earlier this year.

Cole Shelton - September 6, 2023

Israel Adesanya believes Alexander Volkanovski has cemented himself as the GOAT. Volkanovski is the UFC’s current featherweight champion and is undefeated in the weight class. He has only two career losses on his record, one which came on the regional scene at welterweight and the other at 155lbs to Islam Makhachev for the UFC lightweight title. However, that fight was close and some thought Volkanovski did enough to get the win.

Cole Shelton - September 5, 2023

The covers for UFC 5 have officially been released. Last week it was reported that Alexander Volkanovski and Valentina Shevchenko would be on the cover of the regular game. On Tuesday, EA Sports officially revealed the cover and it was Volkanovski and Shevchenko on the cover as expected.

Josh Evanoff - September 4, 2023

Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway still wants to fight Alexander Volkanovski. ‘Blessed’ returned to the win column last month at UFC Singapore against The Korean Zombie. Facing the South Korean fighter in his final fight, Max Holloway scored a highlight-reel third-round knockout. The win was his second in a row, previously defeating Arnold Allen in the main event of UFC Kansas City in April.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - September 3, 2023

Alexander Volkanovski thinks Sean Strickland will be in for a world of hurt against Israel Adesanya. Adesanya is set to put his middleweight championship on the line against Strickland at UFC 293 on September 9. “The Last Stylebender” was expected to meet Dricus du Plessis in a grudge match at the pay-per-view. That plan couldn’t come to fruition, as du Plessis is recovering from an injury and was not going to be healed in time. As a result, Strickland got the call to meet “Izzy.”

Josh Evanoff - August 29, 2023

Alexander Volkanovski and Valentina Shevchenko are the latest to grace the cover of EA Sports UFC. Over the last few months, EA and the UFC have teased that their fifth entry was on the way. It makes sense, as it’s been over three years since their last release in August 2020. While fans wait for more details about the title, it seems that it’ll be one for the ages.

Chris Taylor - August 26, 2023

Max Holloway has explained why he didn’t callout Alex Volkanovski following his knockout win over The Korean Zombie at UFC Singapore. Holloway (25-7 MMA) collided with Chan Sung Jung (17-8 MMA) in the headliner of today’s event in Singapore. The result was a third-round KO victory for ‘Blessed’ (see that here), with The Korean Zombie subsequently announcing his retirement.

Cole Shelton - August 21, 2023

Alexander Volkanovski has his sights set on Ilia Topuria. Volkanovski was paying close attention to the UFC 292 main event, as Aljamain Sterling had said if he beat Sean O’Malley he was going to call out Volkanovski and fight for the featherweight title. It appeared the featherweight champ was interested in the fight, but Sterling suffered a second-round TKO loss to O’Malley to lose his belt.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - August 16, 2023

UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski has high praise for both Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley, and he’s made his pick for the UFC 292 headliner. Sterling will be putting the UFC Bantamweight Championship at stake against O’Malley on August 19. For the “Funk Master,” he’s hoping to extend his record for the most successful consecutive UFC bantamweight title defenses. He also told Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” that he plans to move up to featherweight following UFC 292.

Cole Shelton - July 18, 2023

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski underwent successful surgery on his elbow. After Volkanovski defended his featherweight title back at UFC 290 with a TKO win over Yair Rodriguez, he revealed he was a bit banged up and would likely need surgery. On Tuesday, Volkanovski announced on his social media that his surgery on his shoulder was successful.

Harry Kettle - July 13, 2023

Coach Javier Mendez has predicted that Alexander Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev will produce an epic rematch in the future. Earlier this year, Alexander Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev went to war. They battled it out over the UFC lightweight championship and, in the end, the decision went in favor of Makhachev. He was able to retain his belt, leaving Volkanovski to head back down to 145 pounds and defend his strap at featherweight.