Reigning UFC featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski, has agreed on short notice to replace the injured Charles Oliveira in a fight against Islam Makhachev in order to come out of a month-long bout with him.
“I’m known for my discipline and professionalism all year round, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, but not at that time,” the Australian told David Adesanya. “At that point, I had been drinking every day for three or four weeks and that was unheard of for me – I had never done that before.”
“Every day I told myself I needed to stop and it continued until I got the call. Honestly, it made it easier and I took the fight, partly to get out of the hangover. I went to my strength and conditioning coach that day, we did some tests, and I got on the scale, which showed 83 pounds. All the guys in the gym were laughing – I’d never been that heavy before.”
The lightweight title fight between Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski, which headlined UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi last October, ended in a first-round knockout victory for the Russian.
The Australian fighter will return to the octagon on Feb. 17 at UFC 298 in Anaheim, and facing the UFC champion will be Spanish-Georgian welterweight Ilia Topuria.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/33849-volkanovski-soglasilsya-na-boj-s-makhachevym-chtoby-vyjti-iz-zapoya.html?rand=19907
