Athletes
Alexander Volkov: "I'm Looking For The Belt, I'm Looking For The Title"
The Road To Winning A UFC Belt Is Not An Easy One, Especially When Your Upcoming Opponent Has Trained With You In The Past
Call it the MMA version of process of elimination. Alexander Volkov has a three-fight winning streak and wants a heavyweight title shot. Fellow Russian and former training partner Sergei Pavlovich is the only fighter in the Top Five he hasn’t fought.
Process of elimination. If he wants to get in the conversation to face champion Jon Jones or interim titleholder Tom Aspinall, he had to face Pavlovich.
“With all our history, our friendship, our sparring partner relationship, it was very hard to make this fight,” Volkov admitted. “But I have a three-fight win streak and I do not have any choice to cancel this fight. I have to get to my goal. I'm looking for the belt, I'm looking for the title. I've already fought with many of top guys in the UFC, and it's my time to get the belt, so I just have to go to the Octagon and do my job.”
Saturday's Full Fight Card Preview
The Octagon where Volkov will attempt to make it four straight is in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and while “Drago” knows the task ahead of him, it doesn’t matter where the fight is as long as he leaves victorious and gets closer to his goal. That won’t be easy with the hard-hitting Pavlovich, who has ended all six of his UFC wins by knockout inside a single round. Add in the fact that the two are familiar with one another, and that’s another mountain to climb.
“I don’t think there is anybody else who knows my fighting style and my skills better than Pavlovich in the UFC right now because we trained with him a pretty long time. We spent a lot of hours together doing a lot of techniques and this is why he probably knows everything he has to know and needs to know for this fight. This will make this fight harder for me and a big challenge, and I will try to show the best I have and maybe something he’s never seen before.”
Luckily, the 35-year-old Volkov has plenty of tricks up his sleeve garnered from 47 pro fights, and when you add that experience to a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt he’s shown off in his most recent fight last September, a submission win over Tai Tuivasa. The victory over the Aussie slugger came on the heels of TKO wins over Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Alexandr Romanov, putting his March 2022 loss to Aspinall far in the rearview mirror.
Order UFC 303: Pereira vs Procházka 2
But to get back to Aspinall (or Jones), he has to first beat Pavlovich, whose last three victories came against Curtis Blaydes, Tuivasa and Derrick Lewis before he ran into Aspinall in their interim title bout last November. Now both fighters have something to prove to the Brit, but only one will get in line for a rematch with him if they emerge victorious. And Volkov believes he’ll be the last man standing in Riyadh.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
“I'm in a good position right now in the UFC and I need some opponent who is at the top,” he said. “I already fought with a few guys who now on top of me (in the rankings) and now this is my goal to get a title shot a after win over Sergei Pavlovich.”
And in the process, Volkov expects that he and his compatriot will put on a show.
MORE UFC SAUDI ARABIA: Co-Main Event Spotlight | Fighters On The Rise
“It's a good fight for me, a good fight for him,” he said. “Maybe it will be a good fight for all the fans. We're both good strikers, both have really good standup skills, and we'll show it. Two big guys with good striking and skills are going to punch each other. That's it.”
UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs Aliskerov took place live from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on June 22, 2024. See the final Prelim and Main Card results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
Tags
