UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is approaching his second title defense with a different kind of intensity.
After weeks of filming Season 29 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Volkanovski (22-1 MMA, 9-0 UFC) will put his belt on the line against Brian Ortega (15-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) in the main event of UFC 266 on Sept. 25.
Unbeaten in the UFC, Volkanovski has been nothing short of impressive since joining the roster in 2016, already holding wins over the likes of Max Holloway twice, Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes. But after a tightly contested bout with Holloway in his first title defense, Volkanovski wants to silence the doubters by putting away the durable Ortega.
“I believe my confidence right now is just on such a high,” Volkanovski told MMA Junkie. “I’ve always been confident in the job I need to do, but right now my confidence is on a whole other level to where winning is just not enough. Going out there, winning is good, people always remember the winner, but at the same time, you go out there and send a statement, you go out there and entertain, that’s what people are gonna remember.
“Right now, it’s just something different. While I’m in sparring, I’m trying to picture finishes everywhere no matter where it is. It’s all about the entertainment this time. I want to go out there and obviously I’m gonna go out there and win, but at the same time, I want to do it in wild fashion. I want to go out there and really send a statement. I want people leaving that arena going, ‘Wow, how good was that,’ absolutely blown away by what I went and done in there. So that’s something that I feel like has definitely changed.”
Volkanovski knows finishing Ortega won’t be easy. “T-City” has only one blemish on his record where he needed doctors to intervene because he was too tough for his own good after getting battered by Holloway for four rounds. Ortega would go on to return in emphatic fashion by shutting out top contender Chan Sung Jung, which earned him another shot at the title.
So Volkanovski is entering this fight with a bit of a chip on his shoulder and knows that the biggest message he could possibly send is finishing the new and improved Ortega.
“I’ve always had a wild pace being a high-volume type of fighter and things like that,” Volkanovski said. “But right now it’s go out there and – he’s obviously proved that he has a great chin, and he’s hard to be finished, but I know I said this last fight, but I need to go out there, and I need to finish this fight. I want to go out there, and I want to put him away, and I want to put him away early.
“A lot of people think that can’t be done because he’s durable, but I definitely believe I can go out there and do that. That is my goal: going out there and finish. I won’t be happy unless I knock him out or even submit him or TKO or something like that. I’m going out there to do some damage and put on a show for everyone there.”
Alexander Volkanovski eager to send statement vs. Brian Ortega: ‘Winning is just not enough’
