‘He Was In A Bad Position’

Alexander Volkov saw no problem with Herb Dean’s stoppage in the UFC Vegas 56 main event this past weekend (Sat., June 4, 2022).

“Drago” occupied one-half of the headliner alongside Suriname’s Jairzinho Rozenstruik as both looked to rebound off recent losses. Unfortunately for “Bigi Boy,” Volkov bested him in only two minutes and twelve seconds, landing an onslaught of punches that forced the referee to call off the action (watch highlights).

In the minds of some spectators, the action ended a bit early.

“It’s not my fault anyway,” Volkov said at the UFC Vegas 56 post-fight press conference (h/t MMA Fighting) when addressing the stoppage. “The referee stopped this. In the moment, I hit him, he was a little bit knocked out so he wasn’t being fully fresh. Anyway, it was a big opportunity to knock him out, to land because he was almost on the mat. I was ready to throw him down and continue my work.

“[Rozenstruik] was in a bad position,” he added. “The referee stopped the fight. He was in a bad position and he took some hard punches and he was a little bit knocked out. It’s not my fault but ask this of the referee, not me. I just did my job.”

The win for Volkov acts as his rebound performance after suffering a first-round submission loss to Tom Aspinall this past March (watch highlights). Now, the perennial top contender has big challenges on his mind over redemption, looking to get on his first winning streak since scoring wins over Walt Harris and Alistair Overeem four fights ago.

“It doesn’t matter for me about revenge or winning other fights,” Volkov said. “I’m ready for any challenge. Any challenge would be good but maybe I want to rematch with [Ciryl] Gane because this fight was close. With Derrick Lewis, I won all the rounds and then I just took this punch. It was good for him. He was good with his punch, but anyway, I don’t feel this is a big problem for me.”