"He had the look of Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs" - Teddy Atlas reacts to Alexander Volkanovski escaping Brian Ortega's chokes at UFC 266

Teddy Atlas (left) and Alexander Volkanovski (right) [Image credits: @alexvolkanovski and @teddy_atlas on Instagram]

Teddy Atlas has shared his thoughts on the five-round war that occurred between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega in the main event of UFC 266.

The pair went toe-to-toe for the full 25 minutes inside the T-Mobile Arena. The Australian emerged victorious via a unanimous decision.

Speaking on his podcast The Fight with Teddy Atlas, the famed boxing coach commended Volkanovski for his toughness in the fight. Speaking about a particular point in the headlining clash when 'The Great' was struggling to get out of a mounted guillotine choke by Ortega, Atlas compared Volaknovski's reaction to that of Hannibal Lecter in the iconic The Silence of the Lambs film.

"He [Alexander Volkanovski] knew what he was doing. He wasn't panicking, what he was doing was getting out of it. He was doing what he had to do... I think he had the look of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs when he was on the stretcher and he...he went into the convulsions."

Atlas then went on to praise the main event by comparing it to other iconic fights like Micky Ward vs. Arturo Gatti.

"That was one of the greatest fights you are ever going to see. I'm telling you, that's Micky Ward vs. Arturo Gatti, the first one. And (Diego) Coralles vs. (Jose Luis) Castillo, the first one. That's how good it is. It's unbelievable because those guys went all the places. They left the planet. They made us realize we are mortals."

You can listen to the entire episode of The Fight with Teddy Atlas below:

Henry Cejudo called out Alexander Volkanovski after UFC 266

Former UFC champion Henry Cejudo called out Alexander Volkanovski after the Australian's instant classic battle with Brian Ortega for the featherweight title.

@danawhite im gonna take Alexander the Average’s soul #ufc266

At the UFC 266 post-fight press conference, Volkanovski addressed Cejudo's callout, saying he would "squash the little germ." 'Triple C' fired back at 'The Great', calling him the smaller version of former UFC champion Matt Serra.

The real Alexander the Great took over the World at 20…you almost got choked out by a Modelo model. I’m coming for you Fun Sized Matt Serra! 🏆🏆🏆+🏆 twitter.com/espnmma/status…