Alexander Volkanovski promises to be twice as strong in UFC lightweight debut
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski says that he promises to be twice as strong in his UFC lightweight debut.
Volkanovski moves up in weight next month when he battles UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in a superfight that headlines UFC 284. It’s a battle between two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and it should be an incredible contest when it goes down.
Of course, with Makhachev being the bigger man, he is the betting favorite heading into the fight. But Volkanovski is extremely skilled, and after putting on bulk for his lightweight debut, he believes he will surprise a lot of people in the fight.
Speaking on the FREESTYLEBENDER YouTube channel, Volkanovski promised that he will be twice as strong for his lightweight debut than he was at featherweight. Considering his strength at 145lbs, it will be very interesting to see how he looks up at 155lbs.
“The fact that I’m moving up, doing the bulking, telling myself we need to get stronger, we need to work on that takedown defense, all of a sudden I’m twice as strong as I was,” Volkanovski said (via MMAjunkie.com). “My defense is just on point. I’m like an absolute brick wall when people are trying to run into me, and they feel it, they instantly feel it as soon as they grab a hold of me, or we grab each other. They can already significantly see the strength, so it just makes you think where I go from here.”
Although Makhachev is the favorite to win the superfight with Volkanovski at UFC 284, you can’t count out the Aussie completely, especially if he is as strong as he says he is at lightweight. If he gets taken down, he’ll be in trouble, but if he can stop Makhachev’s takedowns, the fight becomes much more interesting on the feet.
Do you think Alexander Volkanovski will defeat Islam Makhachev at UFC 284?
