Is this Alexander Volkanovski’s last chance to get back his glory? This Saturday, ‘The Great’ returns to the Octagon since losing his featherweight title to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298. Like most champions (and former champions) past a certain age, their ability to perform at their best comes under question, and for ‘The Great’ Volkanovski, things have been no different. Three losses in his last three, two of them, brutal knockouts. This second title opportunity is a godsend, and might just be the last shot for the Australian, according to interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall.
While speaking to TNT Sports, Aspinall expressed how much he loves the Aussie as a fighter and as a person, but he could not hide his doubts about his career either. He said, “Massive Volkanovski fan over here, so I’m happy to see Volk getting another shot. I think it’s gonna be a good fight. I think that it’s gonna be Volkanovski ‘s last crack at getting a title shot again, getting a title.”
“But it’s interesting to see where Volkanovski is at because that guy can seriously get down in there and get after it. And from what I have seen, so can Lopes. So I think it’s a good scrappy featherweight fight that I am looking forward to. But hopefully, like I said, I’m a big fan of Volkanovski. Great guy as well, I wish him nothing but the best. I hope he wins.”, the UFC interim heavyweight champion added.
This fight is truly a make-or-break moment for the Aussie former champ. While a win could give him the momentum lost from his last three fights, a loss could really mean the writing is on the wall for Volkanovski—that it’s time to either take big money fights or ride off into the sunset. After all, he isn’t going up against just anybody. Diego Lopes is a well-rounded fighter who hits hard and has incredible submission skills. Regardless, Volkanovki’s team is confident he can win.
Alexander Volkanovski’s coach is convinced about a second title win for the former
Alexander Volkanovski’s coach, Joe Lopez, is adamant and believes that ‘The Great’ will get his finish somewhere in the middle of the fight. He predicted that the former featherweight champ would try to take the fight to the ground and get a finish against Lopes. “I don’t like to make predictions or anything like that. I just like to see how it goes,” the coach told Submission Radio. “But if anything, I’d say, probably by the third round, I think he [Volkanovski] should start breaking Diego and either get him, he’ll take him down and ground-and-pound him, or he’ll get a submission.”
Meanwhile, Volkanovski is confident in his abilities and declared that Lopes would need to be aggressive and a little berserk if he hopes to defeat him. He exposed his plan while speaking on the Main Event show and said, “I think he [Lopes] needs to be reckless and catch me. That’s his best chance. So he’s going to do what we all know he’s going to do… which is exciting for the fans, but it opens a lot of doors for me… [There’s] a lot I can capitalize on and that I will capitalize on.”
This is truly one of those fights where one doesn’t know what to think in terms of who’d win. There are so many permutations and combinations of how both fighters could win, but in the end, we’ll only get our answers on fight day.
Do you think Volkanovski can be a two-time featherweight champ at UFC 314? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.
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