Alexander Volkanovski thinks he's going to be 'more dangerous than he's ever been'

17/10/2023 15:53

When featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski got the call to step in and face lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev on short notice, he didn't need any convincing.  

"I didn't need to be convinced," Volkanovski said on The MMA Hour.  "We pretty much said yes straight away."

Makhachev was scheduled to face former champion Charles Oliveira in the UF 294 main event but a nasty cut forced Oliveira out of the fight.  Volkanovski agreed to step in on 11 days notice to rematch the 155-pound champion.  

Volkanovski lost to Makhachev via unanimous decision when the two fought the first time at UFC 284 in February.  As a late replacement, Volkanovski believes that he may be a more dangerous fighter.  

"I think this is something that I can really take in, the freshness of no injuries.  It's exhausting going through camp sometimes.  You do eight to 12 weeks of absolutely bashing yourself mentally and physically," said Volkanovski.  "I'm sort of in a position where I don't lose fitness overnight.  It takes me a long time to lose fitness.  I'm pretty comfortable when I am and now I can take this freshness into this fight, go in there sort of excited and fresh.  It's like I don't have to prepare for the worst.  I don't have time to prepare for the worst.

"What I do have time for is to prepare what I believe is going to happen and stick to my game plan.  That's why I think that I'm going to be more dangerous that I've ever been."     

With his mindset on getting the job done, Volkanovski enters the rematch more confident than ever and he believes that he'll finish Makhachev this time.  

"I believe I finish him," Volkanovski said.  "I think we're going to see probably the most dangerous Volkanovski you've ever seen just purely because I can't afford to do anything else."