Alexander Volkanovski discloses if he'll still defend his title in Jan 2024 after taking competing at UFC 294 on short notice
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski has revealed if he is still going to defend his belt in January after competing at UFC 294.
Volkanovski is set to take on Islam Makhachev in a highly anticipated rematch at UFC 294 this weekend. However, it is worth noting that Makhachev was initially supposed to take on Charles Oliveira, but the latter was forced to pull out of the fight.
As a result, Alexander Volkanovski stepped in on short notice despite being in close to finalizing a featherweight title defense in January. Speaking about the same during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Volkanovski revealed that he still plans on defending his UFC featherweight championship early next year. He said:
"Yeah, 100%. That's what I mean, obviously... But yeah, you know I guess they're talking to other people to make sure. You know, I go out there and I take that I'm double champ, I want to defend both belts. I know they're like it can't be done you know know? They think it can't be done so that's going to have to be a talk in itself like really let them know, 'Hey, I can do this double champ, I can keep both divisions busy.' So we'll see... But I definitely plan on fighting in January."
Catch Volkanovski's comments in the video below (12:46):
Alexander Volkanovski reveals how his last fight against Islam Makhachev made him a better fighter
In a recent video posted on his YouTube channel, the UFC featherweight champion spoke about how his loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 284 has transformed his approach to training and made him a better fighter.
Alexander Volkanovski talked about the impact of his defeat and how it has helped to improve his ground game tremendously:
"That fight [against Makhachev] made me a better fighter anyway. Honestly, like my training after that, my takedown defense, my scrambling ability, the way I understand the ground... I've learned so much from that fight and I've carried that through obviously my last camp and I've carried that through even while I've been training after my last fight as well."
Check out Volkanovski's comments below (4:20):