Coach's eye-opening remark on Alexander Volkanovski's health condition against Ilia Topuria proves Cristiano Ronaldo's theory right

Alexander Volkanovski wasn't fully ready for his title fight with Ilia Toupuria earlier this year, according to a new admission from his MMA coach. Football legend Cristiano Ronaldo expressed a similar sentiment regarding Volkanovski's health in a prior conversation with Francis Ngannou's coach Eric Niksick.

For context, Ronaldo, an avid combat sports fan and a close friend of Ngannou, attended the latter's PFL debut against Renan Ferreira last month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Portuguese superstar was present backstage and was spotted interacting with Nicksick about the featherweight title fight at UFC 308.

Ronaldo claimed that Topuria was overconfident and was not convinced of 'El Matador's' win over Volkanovski at UFC 298 because the former champion returned too soon following a knockout loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 294.

Ronaldo's comments were validated when Volkanovski's coach, Joe Lopez told Submission Radio that the Australian was battling some injuries before facing Topuria.

He said:

“It probably wasn’t until we got in there [that we realized], but it was probably one of our better camps. Alex [Volkanovksi] went into his last three fights, 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 broken bone in his elbow...A lot of the time, he just couldn’t throw his left hand.''

Lopez added:

''There are no excuses there, maybe mentally, but for me as a coach, you think you know the guy and Alex probably thought the same too but maybe the punch that he could normally take, he didn’t take… Not taking anything away from Ilia [Topuria], because Ilia’s a very powerful man.”

Check out Joe Lopez's comments below (5:41):

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Alexander Volkanovski doesn't regret facing Ilia Topuria at UFC 298

Alexander Volkanovski's most recent octagon appearance at UFC 298 ended in a second-round knockout loss to Ilia Topuria. Before this, he faced Islam Makhachev on short notice at UFC 294 last year and was knocked out in the opening round.

During his appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Volkanovski was asked if he regretted fighting Topuria, as many MMA fans believed the former champion returned too soon against the current featherweight king. In response, the Australian stated:

''No, I don't regret it. That's who I am, that's what made me the champion that I was. A lot of people think it's a bad idea but if you look at it going in, that's me challenging myself''

Check out Alexander Volkanovski's comments below (22:39):