UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski suffered knockout loss at welterweight during trans

Posted by Almeda Bohannan on Thursday, May 9, 2024

Alexander Volkanovski hopes to become just the fifth dual-weight champion in UFC history by beating Islam Makhachev this weekend.

The UFC featherweight king will step up in weight to challenge Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protégé for the title he recently acquired at UFC 284 in Perth on Saturday night.

However, things have not always gone well for Volkanovski when competing against bigger opponents in weight classes that don’t suit his 5′6″ frame.

Before he became an MMA star, the 34-year-old played as a semi-pro forward in rugby league – a position usually reserved for much larger men – and was considered one of the best at that level.

During this time, Volkanovski weighed about 60lbs heavier than the 145lb featherweight limit UFC fans have watched him compete at over the past few years.

After initially taking up MMA training to keep fit while he wasn’t playing rugby, he eventually ended up falling in love with the sport and pursuing it professionally after four amateur fights.

Volkanovski started his career off at welterweight and quickly found success against 170lb opposition as he won his first three fights and picked up two regional titles in the process.

In his fourth bout, ‘The Great’ learned he was perhaps too small for the best welterweights when was dropped and stopped by Corey Nelson.

Alex Volkanovski's only pro career loss, fought at 170lbs against Corey Nelson. Volk was 3-0 coming into the bout (not sure why it says 6-0) pic.twitter.com/0FocV3zuEv

— Hayden Doumergumedov (@HDoumergumedov) July 28, 2020

In 2020, Volkanovski reflected on his early MMA days at welterweight and admitted that he never should’ve accepted a fight with an opponent so much bigger than him.

He told The Joe Rogan Experience: “[My first loss] that was against at the time, Corey Nelson, he was pound-for-pound number one.

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“Obviously, this was at welterweight, this was very early in my career and I should not have taken that fight. But we were in a tournament and I had him first so I had the favourite straight up.

“And again, it was in a division I probably should have never been in. But, you know, I took him on and I did alright, I held my own, but things didn’t go well.

“It went a lot better for me after that because I realised that he was too strong so I thought ‘right I have to go down, or I have to start grappling as well’. So that’s when I actually started grappling after that.”

Volkanovski hasn’t lost since and eventually found a home for himself at 145lbs.

The 25-1 fighter holds high-profile wins over Jose Aldo, Chad Mendes ‘The Korean Zombie’, Brian Ortega, and Max Holloway who he has impressively beaten three times.

Following Kamaru Usman’s upset loss to Leon Edwards in August 2022, Volkanovski was named the pound-for-pound best fighter in the UFC.

Now, he’ll look to cement his status as MMA’s best by moving up 10lbs in weight to face a furious wrestler in Makhachev who is naturally much bigger than him.

With a win, Volkanovski would become just the fifth person to hold two UFC belts simultaneously, following in the footsteps of Conor McGregor, Amanda Nunes, Daniel Cormier, and Henry Cejudo.

That’ll be easier said than done against Makhachev who has also only suffered one career loss and has since gone on a lengthy winning run against elite-level opposition.

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