Alexander Volkov laid claim to the UFC after defeating Ty Tuivasa

“First of all, I don’t understand why I didn’t get a bonus today,” “Drago” said at the post-fight press conference following UFC 293 in Sydney. “All the fans in the comments are talking about it. It was my first sub win in the UFC and I put on a great performance – I fought in a stand-up fight against a very dangerous puncher who had the whole stadium cheering him on. So, I don’t know why I got bypassed with the bonus. But that’s not a question for me.”

“Personally I’m happy with my performance, the Ezekiel choke worked great. I remember Alexey Oleynik taught me this hold when I was very young and it’s just amazing. I knew how to execute this technique, but I didn’t practice it specifically for this fight. I tried to choke him with an arm triangle, but it didn’t work, but Ezekiel did it”

“Overall it went as we planned, but Ty turned out to be a very tough guy. He missed so many hard punches, I was hitting him really hard, I could feel how tight the punches were, but he kept standing and fighting me, staying dangerous throughout the fight. It was a good challenge for me. I worked hard, but the fight turned out relatively easy for me.”

According to the Russian, he is ready to return to the octagon at the end of this year or early next year.

“I want to fight as often as possible to get back in the title race faster. I’m ready to have another fight at the end of this year, or early next year. I’m still training, enjoying the process, and still learning new things even though I have almost fifty fights under my belt. I’m really motivated and confident that I have what it takes to become a champion”

In particular, Volkov is not averse to a rematch with Britain’s Tom Aspinall, against whom he suffered his last defeat.

“Yeah, why not. I fought him in London and now we could fight him somewhere else, maybe in the United States. He fights too much at home, and not so much in other countries.”