As Alexander Volkanovski attempts to secure lightweight gold, his fellow fighters from Australia and New Zealand are all rooting for him to solidify his legacy as the greatest fighter in history.
During the Media press conference, all the Aussies/Kiwis gave their thoughts on the main event.
Tyson Pedro:
“Scared. I hate watching my friends fight. I know he’s capable of winning and doing what no one thinks he can, but I want him to pull off the win. I hate watching my friends fight. I’d rather be in there 100%. I know he’s ready.”
Justin Tafa:
“Honestly, I think Volk will get the win, and I think people are going to be very shocked, you know. He’s the most underrated fighter maybe in history. I don’t know how people doubt someone like him, that has proved time and time again. He is such a versatile fighter, and I know how much of a tough person he is. I’ve trained with him man and his biggest asset is his arrogance to not give in. You know he’s just a hard trainer and a hard tough dude bro.”
Jamie Mullarkey:
“I think it’s going to be a good fight, we’re all the winners in that fight, but I see a late stoppage for Alex.”
Joshua Culibao:
“Oh, that now. This one’s a very interesting one, one that I’m very excited to watch. I do think Islam gets the fight to the ground, I just don’t see him holding down Volk, and I do see Islam having problems on the feet with him footwork-wise, speed-wise, and technique-wise. I see Islam getting tired from trying to work so hard to get the takedown but not being able to rest and Volk just taking over in the later rounds, plus I’m biased.”
Shannon Ross:
“I was actually lucky enough to get down to Windang and do four weeks of my camp with Alex. So, I think he’s got all the tools and all the credentials, heart, and resilience to take this one. I think Alex will probably win it by decision, I think he’s smart enough and cerebral enough to negate what Islam is going to bring to the table, and yeah, I think he gets it done in the end.”
Jack Jenkins:
“I think Alex is going to get to the end of the third round and really find his feet. I think the first two rounds are going to go how people kind of see it going, maybe Islam takes him down, and Alex tries to get back up, maybe he shoots again. But the class that Alex has and the fitness, the pace that he’s able to put on, nobody understands it until they get in there with him. Max Holloway is known as a cardio freak, everyone was pretty broad on that, and when Alex went in there with him and went five rounds in five rounds, Alex was the one putting the pace on. So, I don’t think it’s going to be any different here. The weight cuts going to be cruzy for him. Well, you know Islam is going to be cutting weight, so I think midway through the third round, Alex takes over.”
Jack Della Maddalena:
“I’m backing the Aussie, you know Alex has the tools to make it happen and I think it’s a tough one for him, but I think he can make it happen.”
Shane Young:
“What we’ve not seen from Islam other than the time he got knocked out, which was like a pretty flash KO, is that we’ve not seen that look of desperation. I’ve seen it in heaps of my fights when you break a man, you can see it in their eyes, and I think we’re going to see that from Islam. No disrespect to Islam, I just mean that I know the kind of pressure, not just physical pressure that Volk puts on, but he can nullify your offence, and then he keeps bringing his offence on, and I think we’re going to see that in the fourth round. We’re going to see Volk break him down, stop all the takedowns and get up from any takedowns and then keep pouring on the offence. I think it’s going to be a hard night for Islam, but with respect to both fighters, I’m thinking of a fourth-round finish from Volk.”
With that being said, Volkanovski has tremendous support going into the toughest fight of his career from all the fans and fighters to take out the most dominant fighter on the UFC roster. The Aussie is feeding off this energy and sees an opportunity to prove that he’s not the underdog coming into this bout.
