LAS VEGAS — Alex Volkanovski is the epitome of what we expect from a fighter in 2023.
Although he might not be the most talented fighter in the world, he just might be the best. All you need to know about Volkanovski is that less than 10 minutes after his devastating third-round finish over Yair Rodriguez on Saturday in their featherweight title fight in the main event of UFC 290 at the T- Mobile Arena, he was talking about getting back to work and practicing.
“I have a lot of goals ahead of me, but hey, the sky’s the limit,” Volkanovski said after stopping Rodriguez at 4:19 of the third round after beating him for the first two.
“I may be in this position right now, but I guarantee you I’ll be at the gym next week busting my ass off again.”
This is the essence of Alexander Volkanovski.
He’s a guy who seems almost too good to be true. If you catch him at home, you might find he mows the neighbor’s lawn while on vacation, helps the little old ladies across the street, and coaches the local rugby team.
The UFC featherweight division has produced the greatest champions the sport has seen in its more than 12 years. Before Volkanovski became champion in 2019, the featherweight champions were Jose Aldo, Conor McGregor and Max Holloway. Aldo is already in the Hall of Fame and McGregor and Holloway will soon follow.
All three have the prototypical long and lean fighter body. Volkanovski is 5-6, shorter than most guys he fights, and not the fastest or most agile guy in the world.
Nobody works like him, as evidenced by the fact that rather than talking about having a beer or six at his afterparty, he was more focused on getting back to Australia and getting back to work.
There is no secret to succeeding at this level in this sport:
You have to work harder than everyone else.
You have to be prepared to sacrifice birthdays and holidays and good food and good wine and trips to the amusement park and trips to the ball game and nights out with the spouse and days at the beach with the kids. The life of a fighter, an elite, top-tier, world-class fighter, is a lonely and often selfish life.
You have to have the patience and tenacity to tolerate an incredible amount of pain, everyone wants a piece of you or a minute of your time, and the toughest guys in the world say nasty things about you.
Alexander Volkanovski is all of this and more. He’s second in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings, but he’s now performing like the No. 1 fighter in that ranking, heavyweight champion Jon Jones, has done for several years.
Jones is still brilliant, an incredible talent who despite having a sometimes difficult lifestyle outside of the Octagon – “Who thought it was a good idea to leave Jon Jones alone in Las Vegas for a few days,” said UFC president Dana White laughing when said there were reports that Jones had been seen drinking in public – remains the best.
Volkanovski, however, is not far behind.
“He’s a savage,” White said, using one of his favorite terms to describe Volkanovski.
True, but he’s also one of the smartest and most stylish men in the sport. He had the opportunity to sound his own horn on Saturday when asked if it was fair to say he had passed Jose Aldo as the greatest featherweight in UFC history.
Volkanovski is clearly proud of his accomplishments, but he was classy enough not to pounce on Aldo.
“The man just got into the Hall of Fame,” Volkanovski said. “I’m not trying to take that away from him. I’ll let everyone decide.
He managed to stay on top for 43 months, an extraordinary amount of time in the UFC. His stamina, he said, is largely due to his love for not only what he does on fight night, but also for preparing to go to fights.
You can’t last that long if training, pushing yourself beyond what you thought was your limit, becomes a chore.
“It’s my passion for the sport, my mindset,” Volkanovski said of what keeps him on top. “I don’t need to be motivated. It is discipline. You hear people talk about doing all that fancy bullshit to get motivated. I don’t need that, because I have discipline and I will show up every day.
He’s so focused on being awesome—and therefore being able to generously support his family—that he sometimes loses sight of what he’s doing.
He’s on a historic streak in the UFC. He beat Max Holloway three times, and that’s the work of a career for most people. He also beat Aldo, Brian Ortega, Chan Sung Jung and Rodriguez.
It’s next level stuff and it’s a shame he can’t enjoy what he’s doing.
“I wish I had done more,” Volkanovski said.
But he works and works and works and given that the results continue in his direction, who can argue with him? If you want to call him the featherweight GOAT, in a division that includes Aldo, McGregor and Holloway as champions, go for it. You won’t get any arguments here.
He’s a special fighter with a special attitude and we should appreciate him as we witness this greatness unfold before our eyes. It’s the kind of thing you only see once in a lifetime.