ADVANTAGE STAY AHEAD OF THE GAME TACTICS
ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI is used to being the underdog. In fact, the 34-year-old UFC featherweight champion has been underestimated his whole life.
“I was the baby of the family,” he explains between mouthfuls of lamb, hummus and tzatziki on the set of today's photoshoot in Sydney's south. “So it's always harder to beat your older siblings, but I was always trying to compete with them – I guess that's what made me who I am. I've always been undersized.”
The situation going into his next fight will be no different. On February 12th in Perth's RAC Arena, the Australian will go up a weight class in order to challenge Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title, where a win will make Volkanovski only the fifth fighter in UFC history to win belts in two different weight classes. Despite Volkanovski being ranked the best pound for pound fighter in the sport, the odds heavily favour Makhachev, an athlete trained and mentored by UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov.
As he has throughout his career, Volkanovski is relishing his outsider status. Not only is he comparatively smaller than many of his UFC contemporaries – standing at 1.68m tall – he has resisted all temptations to live and train overseas, opting instead to fight out of Freestyle Fighting Gym in his hometown of Wollongong, a place not exactly known for creating fighting icons. There's also the fact that the world champ didn't even start MMA until he was 22. He watched his first UFC fight in his early teens, but as with many Australian boys in the late ’90s, it was rugby league that stole his attention.
“I've always loved martial arts,” he says. “It's always been big in my family. Especially being Macedonian
