Alexander Volkanovski's coach reacts to Ilia Topuria's KO win over Max Holloway, weighs in on Islam Makhachev claims

At UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi, Ilia Topuria became the first fighter to KO Max Holloway. Topuria’s former foe Alexander Volkanovski’s coach, Joe Lopez, recently shared his thoughts on ‘El Matador’s' knockout and a potential champion versus champion fight down the line.

In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Lopez praised Topuria for his impressive performance, commending the Georgian-Spaniard for backing up his bold claims.

“Oh man, that was pretty insane. No one's really knocked Max out before, and to do what he said he would—yeah, all props to him."

When asked about a potential fight between the featherweight champion and the reigning lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, as well as Topuria’s claims that he would be the first to submit Makhachev, Lopez responded:

"Well, Islam, you know, he's very good at striking and he's got good wrestling too, and he's the bigger man. So who knows? Look, you can't take that away from Ilia because what he said he would do, he's been doing. He might just be the first guy to do it, so you can't take that away from him." [13:44]

Check out Joe Lopez’s comments below (0:30):

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Joe Lopez opens up about Alexander Volkanovski's losses to Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev

Alexander Volkanovski was dominant atop the featherweight division with five title defenses before getting knocked out by Ilia Topuria at UFC 298. ‘The Great’ was coming off a knockout loss to Islam Makhachev just a few months prior, which many believe compromised his chin against Topuria.

In the same interview, Volkanovski’s coach, Joe Lopez, revealed that the future Hall of Famer was far from fighting shape in his last three bouts:

“Alex went into his last three fights [compromised] – especially with the Yair [Rodriguez] fight, Alex couldn’t use his left arm for probably three-quarters of the camp because he had bits of a broken bone in his elbow." [5:46]

Volkanovski and Topuria notably shared a respectful exchange inside the octagon moments after the latter's win over Max Holloway. While the former champion's next bout could be a rematch with 'El Matador', an interim title fight against Diego Lopes at UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia, next year could be on the cards.