Alexander Volkov brushes off Jailton Almeida matchup talk, urges UFC needs to bring "more interesting" offer
UFC heavyweight fighters Alexander Volkov and Jailton Almeida were reportedly scheduled to clash at an upcoming UFC Fight Night. However, the Russian recently addressed the speculation, expressing his disinterest in facing the Brazilian.
While 'Drago' is currently ranked at No. 3 in the UFC, Almeida holds the sixth position. On top of that, Volkov, a veteran of the promotion, has only four losses on his record since his debut in 2016.
Given the current dynamics in the UFC heavyweight division, Volkov wants to pursue better opportunities than to fight Almeida. The Russian fighter said:
"There was a fight announced about my fight with [Jailton] Almeida, which it wasn't officially announced but there were rumors that the fight was in the works... I don't plan to fight Almeida in July yet."
Volkov also explained why he plans on rejecting a matchup against Almeida.
Although the Brazilian is coming off a dominating victory over Serghei Spivac, Volkov remains uninterested in fighting Almeida due to one major reason:
"Why? Because I don't see any point in fighting the sixth-ranked fighter. Whoever sees the point, tell me why. It's only a fight for the sake of a fight. Let's wait for a more interesting offer."
Check out Alexander Volkov's comments below:
When Dana White apologized to Alexander Volkov
In his last fight at UFC 310, Alexander Volkov faced former interim UFC heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane.
After a hard-fought three-round battle, the Frenchman was declared the winner by split decision. Following that, Volkov and several prominent individuals in the UFC community insisted that Gane should not have won.
Notably, even UFC CEO Dana White was shocked by the scorecards. He also believed that 'Drago' deserved to win. Consequently, immediately after the match, White apologized to Volkov.
During the post-fight press conference, the UFC head honcho publicly acknowledged this by saying:
"You heard the boos, I went over to Volkov, I apologized to him. I thought he won the fight and the head of the commission came over and said, 'Listen we feel like that second round was really close and could have gone either way.'"
Check out Dana White's comments below (9:38):