Former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski suffered his second consecutive knockout defeat, this time at the hands of Ilia Topuria at UFC 298.
His prior knockout loss occurred against Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 last year. The quick turnaround between these back-to-back defeats has sparked significant scrutiny. In a video on his YouTube channel following the loss of his featherweight title, Volkanovski revealed his conflicted state of mind during the fight.
He also assured fans that he would not rush back into competition and would give his body time to recover.
“I was in two minds in there, I was fighting like, I can’t get caught but trying to tell myself no, no, you’re all good, come on you got to start fighting your fight. So it was a tricky one. That makes me take this seriously. Obviously, it’s two in a row now.
I’m not planning on having a quick turnaround like I did probably after the October fight with Islam [UFC 294].
The months between the two fights, you know some people are going to say it was a bad idea. Again, I thought we did everything right, but maybe there was something there.”
Volkanovski discussed the possibility of taking an extended break from the sport. He also elaborated on how being a champion compelled him to stay active.
“Yeah, well, exactly [bigger break next]. I’m going to let the headrest a little, Well the thing is, being a champion or even before being a champion, I had my goal was to be champion, to be the best, and it’s a commitment and I committed to it.
The best are going to do that. It was the training schedule and being and working around life. I felt like that was a responsibility. Being a champion, I had to be busy.”
