"I didn't fight my fight" - Alexander Volkanovski discusses how Ilia Topuria led him away from his usual fighting approach
Alexander Volkanovski has explained why Ilia Topuria could disrupt his game plan in their UFC 298 bout earlier this month.
At UFC 298, 'El Matador' shocked the world when he viciously finished Volkanovski during the second round of their clash. After a fairly even first round, Topuria managed to force 'The Great' against the fence and land a huge right hand that dropped him to the canvas.
At just 28-years-old, the Georgian-Spaniard had become the featherweight champion and the first man to defeat Volkanovski at 145 pounds.
During the post-fight presser, Volkanovski stated that he had been working specifically on avoiding the combination Topuria could land on him.
He has since shed some more light on his performance during the latest video on his YouTube channel. According to the Australian, he was uncharacteristically in two minds during the fight, as he fought to avoid Topuria's combinations rather than fight his fight. He explained:
"Did I feel like myself in there? No not really. I think it's probably clear for most people that I didn't look myself in there...He [Topuria] did what we expected him to do but there's things I could have done better. I didn't fight my fight, I was fighting to not get caught and that's just not my style...I'm pretty disappointed."
Check out Alexander Volkanovski's comments here (1:00):
Robert Whittaker questions whether Alexander Volkanovski's pre-fight antics caused him to lose focus against Ilia Topuria
UFC middleweight contender Robert Whittaker has weighed in on Alexander Volkanovski's loss to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298.
Prior to the Australian's bout against Topuria, much had been made of his age, considering he was 35 and heading into another title defense. However, 'The Great' opted to hit back at that consensus. He filmed the hilarious advert with himself dressed as 'Old Man Volk'.
Volkanovski even appeared in the same outfit at the pre-fight press conference, but Whittaker has since questioned whether that played a part in his defeat. According to 'The Reaper', Volkanovski may have been distracted heading into the fight. He explained:
"I was thinking leading up to the fight that Alexander Volkanovski was doing a lot of things with like, obviously he dressed the way he did. Granted, it was funny as hell... He's obviously doing a lot of media around it, his crew and his team is massive. He walked out with Zuckerberg, I think. It's massive. But I can't help but feel like you'd get distracted. "
Catch Whittaker's comments here (13:10):