{"id":45413,"date":"2021-03-16T03:00:16","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T04:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=45413"},"modified":"2021-03-16T06:04:39","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T06:04:39","slug":"volkanovskis-blunt-response-to-rivals-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=45413","title":{"rendered":"Volkanovski's blunt response to rivals' claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFC<\/a> featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski<\/a> has issued a stern warning for anyone thinking that some impressive performances by his rivals meant they were coming for his title.<\/p>\n

Volkanovski will fight American Brian Ortega at UFC 260 next weekend, who got a title shot after a dominant decision victory over 'The Korean Zombie' Jung Chan-sung.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old American won each round 10-9 on each scorecard, claiming a unanimous 50-45, 50-45, 50-45 victory over five rounds.<\/p>\n

"Without giving too much away, I can take a lot from what he was doing," Volkanovski told Wide World of Sports.<\/em><\/p>\n

"But not just him, I can look at Zombie's performance and take a lot away from that before. Why did he let Ortega do this or that? I wouldn't have done that."<\/p>\n

But if Ortega was dominant, former champion Max Holloway's recent outing against Calvin Kattar was a level above even that.<\/p>\n

\"Horrific<\/p>\n

Holloway, who lost two sensational fights to Volkanovski<\/a> over the past two years, won multiple rounds by 10-8 on each judge's scorecard en route to a 50\u201343, 50\u201343, 50\u201342 win in January.<\/p>\n

"He definitely looked good, he hit some crazy number. But he doesn't hit those numbers when I'm in front of him. That's not disrespect, that's just straight facts," Volkanovski said.<\/p>\n

"Max made him look like a punching bag, but I ain't no punching bag."<\/p>\n

Some fans wanted Volkanovski to run it back with the former champ for a third time, but the south coast local said Ortega had earned his shot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"You've got Max and him that are right up there, and after fighting Max twice it'd be silly to do it again straight away," he said.<\/p>\n

"Obviously people are going to say what they want, but with that situation, this fight I'm having with Ortega was booked long before his most recent fight.<\/p>\n

"He's doing the right things. He knew he had to fight and get back to that number one contender spot and fight somebody else."<\/p>\n

Volkanovski said that he won't allow Ortega, who has one loss as a professional fighter, to determine the speed of their title bout.<\/p>\n

"Zombie's not me, and I'm not going to let Ortega sit there and dictate the pace and set up his own things," Volkanovski said.<\/p>\n

"I'm in phenomenal shape right now and I cannot wait to put on this high pace and I know there's nobody that can keep up with that."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The champ predicts that his frenetic style will frustrate the challenger, and will lead him into making tired mistakes as desperation sets in.<\/p>\n

"In his last fight he showed he could go five rounds but again, it was a pace he's comfortable with. I still feel that I can break him and that's what I plan on doing," Volkanovski added.<\/p>\n

"I know this fight's going to be a fun one, and I don't feel like Ortega can fight like he did in his last fight."<\/p>\n

Volkanovski left Australia on Saturday and is in Las Vegas, preparing for next weekend's fight which will be behind closed doors at the UFC's Apex complex.<\/p>\n

"I found out from my last fight that I really do like the crowd. You really appreciate the atmosphere and all that type of stuff," he said.<\/p>\n

He said that while he usually feeds off the crowd, he'd have to make his own energy – as he did in his previous fight in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

"I got that experience on Fight Island and now I know that I can let my emotions fly and make my own adrenaline. We're going to be backstage, get the music blaring and the emotions flying, we're going to have a good laugh and then get in there and put it on him."<\/p>\n

The former Group 7 footy player has been trying to establish himself outside the octagon as well, writing a picture book for children and starting a YouTube channel.<\/p>\n

A recent video showing how to cook lamb souvlaki and wagyu beef<\/a> has racked up 80,000 views on YouTube.<\/p>\n

"Cooking with Volk, we're smashing it," he laughs.<\/p>\n

"We go and we fight and we're all business, but there's a whole different side of me that people don't get to see.<\/p>\n

"I want to show a different side to our sport and something that people don't really see. We've got great role models in martial arts and I believe there's a lot of good life skills in the sport."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski has issued a stern warning for anyone thinking that some impressive performances by his rivals meant they were coming for […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45413"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45415,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45413\/revisions\/45415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}