Dillon Danis claims Bellator champ beats Alexander Volkanovski after A.J. McKee said he "wasn't impressed" by Volkanovski's UFC 273 performance
![From left to right: A.J. McKee, Alexander Volkanovski, and Dillon Danis [Images courtesy: @ajmckee and @dillondanis on Instagram]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/04/d3d22-16497414525842-1920.jpg?w=500)
Alexander Volkanovski's victory over 'The Koren Zombie' at UFC 273 had the world in awe of the Australian's skills and elite level of combat. The fight became a widely discussed topic amongst the MMA community worldwide. Even the current Bellator featherweight champion A.J. McKee spoke about it in the midst of his upcoming title defense against Patricio Pitbull.
Although most fans are gushing over Volkanovski's stellar performance, McKee said he wasn't impressed. A.J. McKee went on to claim that he could defeat any 145 pounder in the world, including Volkanovski. Dillon Danis shared the Bellator champion’s claims by posting the following tweet:
i agree i believe @ajmckee101 would beat Alex Volkanovski @BellatorMMA twitter.com/scottcoker/sta…
At the Bellator 277 press conference, the ‘Mercenary’ was asked about his views on the entire 145-pound landscape. The Bellator featherweight champion said that he wasn’t too impressed with Alexander Volkanovski’s performance. He also believes in the strength of his division:
“I feel like I come on the top with any 145 pounder in the world. Especially 155 as well, obviously them being little big bigger. But 145, I’ve watched Volkanovski fight. I wasn’t to impressed. Honestly, I feel myself and Pitbull, we could hangout with any forty-fiver in the world, you know. This is no discredit to any other forty-fiver in the world. But I strongly believe that Bellator has the best 145 division in the world.”
'The Mercenary' also said that he sees some chinks in Alexander Volkanovski’s armor:
"Yea, the Volkanovski fight. The fight IQ is just a bit different. He’s really havy on his backfoot and he keeps it sideways, which means that he has only vertical movement when he strikes. Therefore his lateral movement when he strikes is obsolete. So pay attention to little things like that."
A.J. McKee won the Bellator featherweight world Grand Prix tournament last year. In the finals, he submitted Patricio Pitbull via guillotine choke to become the new Bellator featherweight champion.
Their rematch serves as his first title defense and will headline Bellator 277. It will take place this Friday at the SAP Center in San Jose, California.
Alexander Volkanovski thinks that Henry Cejudo still needs to prove himself in the featherweight division
The UFC featherweight champion was a guest on the most recent episode of The MMA Hour. He spoke on various topics, including the current state of the 145-pound division. The host of the show, Ariel Helwani, asked him about the challenge thrown out by Henry Cejudo.
Alexander Volkanovski said he would not take it seriously until the former featherweight and bantamweight champion re-enters the USADA’s testing pool. For now, Henry Cejudo still needs to prove himself, per the champion. 'The Great' also said that he’s in no favor of Cejudo jumping the line for the title shot.
Henry Cejudo has announced that he will be making his comeback after watching Alexander Volkanovski vs. ‘The Korean Zombie’ at UFC 273. ‘Triple C’ called on the UFC featherweight champion to “sign the contract.”
You can watch Volkanovski's appearance on The MMA Hour below: