After losing to Islam Makhachev by technical knockout in the first round, Alexander Volkanovski claims that money wasn’t the only factor that made him replace the injured Charles Oliveira on short notice and take the fight with the Russian.
“I don’t want to sit here and make excuses,” the Australian said at the post-fight press conference following UFC 294. “Of course I’m a big proponent of proper preparation, but I believe in myself, that’s why I made this decision. I could have made a better decision because Islam is not someone to take fights with on short notice, but I needed it.”
“A lot of people say I did it for the money, but the reason is not only that, there is more to it than that. I never thought I would have to deal with this, but when I’m not fighting and I’m not in training camp, it literally drives me crazy. I needed a fight, and when this opportunity came up, I jumped at it.”
“I have a great family, everything is totally fine, but I need to keep busy. I need to be in camp or I just go crazy. When I’m not fighting, I don’t feel like I’m living a full life. I don’t like to waste time.”
The title superfight, in which Makhachev defended his UFC lightweight championship belt, ended at the 3:06 mark of the first round after the Russian knocked Volkanovski down with a leg kick to the head and then finished his shocked opponent in the parterre.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/32955-volkanovski-sdelal-zayavlenie-posle-porazheniya-nokautom-ot-makhacheva.html?rand=19907
