Even though he is short, Alexander Volkanovski is by no means a small man. Volkanovski weighed a lot more than 145 lbs during his rugby career. He also has one of the longest reaches among the UFC’s lighter-weight classes. And at UFC 284, he will have more leeway to bulk up than he did during his featherweight run.
Earlier, Volkanovski revealed the insane diet plan he had adopted to prepare for his lightweight title challenge. Considering how big his opponent, Islam Makhachev is, it’s no wonder that Volk needs to put on some muscle to compete with him. However, what Alexander “The Great” revealed on Submission Radio will ease some of his fans’ anxiety regarding the size disparity between him and Makhachev.
The UFC’s P4P #1 fighter said about his weight come fight night, “I wanna get to a weight that I’m very comfortable at. Which is gonna be about 77-78 kgs. That’s where I’m moving really well, feeling really strong. So that’s where I’m gonna be.”
For those not well acquainted with the metric system, Volkanovski’s weight on Sunday will be around 170 pounds. This means Volkanovski will gain back at least 15 pounds after the weigh-ins conclude. But it is still less than his opponent, Islam Makhachev, who has his own weight cut to worry about.
Alexander Volkanovski will step inside the Octagon as a welterweight at UFC 284
At UFC 284, Alexander Volkanovski will weigh somewhere around the UFC’s welterweight limit of 170 lbs. However, this will not phase the UFC’s featherweight champion in the slightest. After all, he used to weigh over 210 pounds during his rugby career. And even as a featherweight, he cuts quite a bit of weight to make the division’s 145 lbs limit.
97kg rugby league player to 70kg MMA fighter, love the MMA life style #MMA #rugbyleague #NoDaysOff #fitness pic.twitter.com/kas9dOZlsf
— Alex Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) December 27, 2013
And it is a given that with a bulkier frame and more muscle, Alexander “The Great” will be stronger and more explosive during his title fight against Makhachev. With the Dagestani lightweight champion saying that he wants to knock out Volk, he best not get too carried away. After all, Volk does punch harder than Adriano Martins, who knocked out Islam.
The 34-year-old Australian has also competed as a welterweight in mixed martial arts. In fact, Volkanovski was handed the first and only loss of his career in that division when Cory Nelson TKO’d him at AFC 5.
However, Volkanovski is a completely different fighter from the one that fought Nelson. Riding a 22-fight winning streak into the RAC Arena, Volkanovski will hope that his lightweight challenge goes the way of his featherweight run and not his welterweight one.