Alexander Volkanovski opened up about becoming the UFC featherweight champion for the first time during a past conversation with Joe Rogan. Volkanovski claimed to be enjoying his time as a champion, however, the Australian was simply a family man during his time away from the octagon.
For context, Volkanovski received the opportunity to challenge the then-featherweight champion Max Holloway in the co-main event of UFC 245 at the end of 2019. 'The Great' displayed his dominance and dethroned Holloway to become the new undisputed champion.
A few months later, Volkanovski made an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience and explained what it was like to hold the UFC gold for the first time, saying:
''Yeah, it's settled in, like it's weed, it's hard to explain. Like, I'm the type of person that soon as I'm home, I'm Daddy on the regular blog that everyone knew me 10 years ago. But at the same time obviously you got the media obligations and everything needs to be done, so it's different, you're gonna get recognized a little bit more on the street.''
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
When asked by Rogan if he gained recognition in his home country, Volkanovski said:
''Yeah Australia, obviously that's where I'm from so the supports a big especially where I'm locally like every time I fought, literally our city stops you know just to watch it.''
Check out Alexander Volkanovski's comments below (0:19):
Volkanovski made four successful title defenses before moving up to challenge Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title at UFC 284, which ended in a unanimous decision defeat. The 36-year-old returned and knocked out Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 in a featherweight title unification bout.
Following a second unsuccessful bid for the 155-pound belt, 'The Great' defended his throne against Ilia Topuria at UFC 298, suffering from a devastating knockout defeat. He returned to the octagon after a year and faced Diego Lopes at UFC 314 this past weekend for the featherweight title vacated by Topuria and secured a unanimous decision win.
Alexander Volkanovski wants to make a quick return
Alexander Volkanovski became a two-time featherweight champion after defeating Diego Lopes at UFC 314. During the post-fight press conference, Volkanovski shared his future plans about defending his belt against top contenders.
''I mean, if everything’s good, I’d probably like to go soon...if I’m good, maybe I get the fight, maybe July or September. Yeah, we can maybe fit in. Movsar [Evloev], if they want to do that, if they want to quickly go...We’ll see. Like I said, that was my plan. Bang, bang, bang. But I didn’t expect to get hit this much. Credit to f*cking Diego.”
Check out Alexander Volkanovski's comments below (7:33):