Coming off the biggest win of his career against Chad Mendes, Australian featherweight contender Alex Volkanovski gets his chance to take on arguably the greatest featherweight of all time in Jose Aldo.
Alex Volkanovski (19-1) is undefeated in the UFC and looks to continue his run towards the title against former champion Jose Aldo (28-4). Aldo has fought the featherweight’s division’s best for over 10 years and has only lost to Max Holloway and Conor McGregor at the top level.
🇦🇺@AlexVolkanovski faces Jose Aldo this Sunday on Pay-Per-View
📺 https://t.co/IS7CfBYeGH #UFC237 pic.twitter.com/oXCSyQI277— UFC_AUSNZ (@UFC_AUSNZ) May 8, 2019
After his past 2 fights, Volkanovski has proven himself to be a true threat to the title and a win over Aldo will cement him as the number 1 contender in the division.
“He (Aldo) has only lost to Max the last few fights,” Volkanovski said in an interview with ESPN MMA.
“This is definitely a number 1 contender fight. I take him out and I’m definitely the guy.”
Volkanovski went on to say that a win over Aldo could push him into the spotlight as one of the best.
🇦🇺@AlexVolkanovski travels to Rio 🇧🇷 to earn a shot at UFC gold 🏆#UFC237 live on PPV & https://t.co/IS7CfBYeGH pic.twitter.com/LRcZ20wfvO
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“People look at me as an exciting fighter, but after these next 2 fights, I’ll be one of the best in the world I reckon.”
Volkanovski wants to ride the wave of the momentum created by Aussie and NZ stars like Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya by becoming one of the best in the world and fighting for a title.
“That fight (Whittaker vs Adesanya) is huge and hopefully I’m on that card fighting for a title against Max Holloway too.”
Volkanovski is confident he has what it takes to get past Aldo saying that Aldo didn’t want to fight him in a 5-round fight.
“I’m going to make that octagon look real small, real quick,” Volkanovski continued.
“I’ve only got 3 rounds with him, he didn’t want a 5-round fight, I can’t blame him, but I’m really going to put the pace on early.”
Motivated by a title shot, Volkanovski’s loyalty to his family and friends is another motivator. On the same day as the biggest fight of his career, his friends were getting married but changed the date to support their friend, a favor Volkanovski wants to re-pay.
“A big win, a big win in Rio, he’ll be happy with that,” Volkanovski added.
“It’s an added motivation for me, having them do that for me, I’m not going to let all these sacrifices go unnoticed, I’m going to go out there and make it all worth it.”
