Alexander Volkanovski plans on smacking the smirk off of Islam Makhachev’s face this weekend.
The top two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world will meet in a champion vs. champion superfight on Saturday night as the UFC heads to the land down under for UFC 284. Fresh off his second-round submission victory over Charles Oliveira in October to capture the lightweight championship, Makhachev will defend his title against reigning featherweight titleholder and No. 1 ranked fighter in the world, Alexander Volkanovski in a main event for the ages.
Ever since the bout became official, Makhachev has come out of his shell little by little, taking potshots at Volkanovski as the fighters march towards their highly anticipated clash in Perth, Australia. In an interview with TheMACLife, ‘The Great’ snapped back at the Dagestani destroyer.
“It’s obviously pretty fan-friendly banter. Pretty fun, but I still feel like there’s a smirk there. There’s a cockiness I feel, which is good because I’ve slapped and knocked smirks off people’s faces many times before so I look forward to doing that again. And he can say his jokes, playing like, ‘Yeah, this, this, this.’ It’s just going to be more embarrassing for him when things go my way because that’s exactly what I plan on doing. Going out there and doing my thing.
“He wants to push these narratives of me being short or not having wrestling and all that type of stuff. That just makes my victory bigger and then makes your loss even worse. So I can sit there… You know, who’s going to have the last smirk? After the fight, I’ll be the one smirking.”
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚-𝙤𝙛𝙛… 👀
Makhachev 🆚 Volkanovski will be EPIC 🤩#UFC284 | February 11 | BT Sport pic.twitter.com/FA1yswNNTK
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) January 24, 2023
Alexander Volkanovski Expects Islam Makhachev to Stick to What Has Worked for Him So Far
Islam Makhachev previously claimed that he is more than willing to stand and trade with Alexander Volkanovski once the cage door slams shut behind them at the RAC Arena on Saturday night. However, the 145-pound champ finds that a little hard to believe, calling Makhachev a “safe” fighter who isn’t likely to stray from the game plan that carried him to lightweight supremacy.
“I noticed what he’s good at and all that type of stuff, but people see that and think there’s nothing you can do about it. Trust me, there’s things you can do about it. In striking obviously, there’s things we will see. He’s a calculated fighter. He’s not going to put himself out of position because he doesn’t take too many risks. He knows where he’s strong, he knows where he wants to be. So him telling me that he’s going to strike with us, he’s full of sh*t. That’s not how he fights. He’s very very safe in his approach. We know what he’s gonna want to do.”
Alexander Volkanovski will enter the bout on Saturday night riding an incredible 22-fight win streak. During that run, ‘The Great’ has earned victories over Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo, Brian Ortega, The Korean Zombie, and Max Holloway on three separate occasions. Though he’s not defending his UFC featherweight title on Saturday night, it will be Volkanovski’s fifth appearance inside the Octagon as a world champion.
