Israel Adesanya opens up on fight that made Alexander Volkanovski a "living legend"

Israel Adesanya recently revealed that he regards the Alexander Volkanovski vs. Brian Ortega fight as one of the best in the UFC featherweight champion's career.

Volkanovski locked horns with Ortega at the main event of UFC 266. It was one of Volkanovski's toughest fights where Ortega put 'The Great' in a brutal chokehold twice. However, the Australian fighter wiggled his way out on both occasions and managed to retain his title via unanimous decision.

Sitting alongside Volkanovski, 'The Last Stylebender' admitted to being inspired by 'The Great'. Adesanya mentioned Volkanovski's fight with Ortega back at UFC 266, claiming that the persistence, grit, and great display of skills shown by 'The Great' in the fight made him a "living legend".

Speaking about the fight in a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, 'The Last Stylebender' said:

"You inspire me! Especially with your latest performances. The way you got out of that triangle and went to work straight away...When I saw the way you did that, it reinvigorated this thing in me...I was like, "F***k! he was deep in the f***ing waters. He was dead drowning and he came back up and beat the f**k out the shark and then walk back."

He also added by saying:

"Honestly man...I feel like that was the fight that made you a legend. You already beat Aldo, Mendes, and all that before but that was the fight I felt like that made you like a living legend."

You can check out Alexander Volkanovski's entire conversation with Israel Adesanya below:

Alexander Volkanovski last fought against Chan Sung Jung at the main event of UFC 273 in what was his third title defense. 'The Great' managed to retain his belt by defeating 'The Korean Zombie' via a fourth-round TKO.

The featherweight champion is now scheduled to face Max Holloway for a trilogy fight at the co-main event of UFC 276 scheduled for July 2, 2022, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Eugene Bareman admits Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway trilogy won't be "easy task"

During a recent interaction with It's Time For Sports, Alexander Volkanovski's coach Eugene Bareman addressed the highly anticipated trilogy fight between 'The Great' and 'Blessed'.

During the conversation, the coach admitted how Max Holloway, being one of UFC’s most elite fighters, has always posed a threat to the champion. He said that devising a strategy to keep the Hawaiian under control inside the cage takes a lot of thought and planning.

Speaking on how the trilogy, according to him, would be a tough battle not only for the fighters but also for their teams, Bareman had this to say:

"Max puts me on my toes. It makes me and my coaches try and find another level. We try and find another level, we're trying to find something, we're trying to search for something that's so difficult to find with fighters that are the one percent of the one percent if you know what I mean."

He also added:

"They're the one of the one percent, the fighters like Max, the fighters like Volkanovski. I'm sure it's [not] an easy task for his team as well but yeah, it's just hard grinding work for us."

You can check out Eugene Bareman's interview on 'It's Time For Sports' below:

MMA fans can check out the video below made by Sportskeeda: