Alexander Volkanovski doesn’t tend to go by “Alexander Volkanovski” in a casual setting. He’s just “Alex.”
The full-first-name thing isn’t for headlines — it is decidedly character-limit unfriendly. Rather, it’s meant to more strongly link the Aussie and his Greek-Macedonian heritage with Alexander III of Macedon.
You know, Alexander the Great. It applies to either man.
It would be a presumptuous nickname and name stylization to consciously adopt if only Volkanovski wasn’t so darn, well, great.
But even Alexander, ruler in Europe, Northern Africa and Western Asia, did not conquer everything as his homesick troops led the king to turn his armies around in India and head for the heart of his kingdom in Babylon.
Perhaps in Volkanovski’s case, Saturday’s second loss to Islam Makhachev in eight months at UFC 294 and second failed bid to capture championships two weight classes is a sign that, as great as he is, he too should return permanently to the kingdom which he has ruled for years: the featherweight division.
The first time in February, Volkanovski (26-3, 16 finishes) put up as good a fight against Makhachev as anyone had. Some observers even thought the decision could have gone the way of the challenger — The Post scored it 48-47 for Makhachev. It was the type of effort that left some hunger for a rematch.
And that’s exactly what we got in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates —a five-hour flight from long-fallen Babylon, as it happens — when Volkanovski, without much thought, accepted the second chance on less than two weeks’ notice when original Makhachev a huge cut to the brow in training bumped original opponent Charles Oliveira from the date.
Alexander the Great never suffered such a damning defeat as Alexander “The Great” did in the octagon.
The epic clash had barely gotten going before Makhachev’s left shin had clipped Volkanovski’s dome, compromising the Aussie like we’d never seen before. Some swift and savage follow-up punches later, and that was a wrap on the idea of Champ-Champ Volk.
“That’s the game, mate,” Volkanovski told reporters afterward. “He caught me good.”
No shame in a loss to a champion, much less one like Makhachev (25-1, 16 finishes) who seems to have all the tools to match the length of Volkanovski’s own nearly four-year run atop the 145-pound weight class.
Featherweight is Volkanovski’s domain. It’s where he’s proved unbeatable (thus far), with 16 wins in 16 tries at 145 pounds. It’s where he must return, and it’s where he would be best served in staying.
As long as Volkanovski holds his belt through the end of the year, he will join the five other men in UFC history to carry the strap for four-plus years: Anderson Silva, Demetrious Johnson, Georges St-Pierre, Jose Aldo and Jon Jones.
Even before the Makhachev rematch was put in motion, plans had been in place for Volkanovski to defend his title for a sixth time, likely against Ilia Topuria. As long as commission officials will clear him after the KO, he’s got every intention of honoring those plans.
It’s almost a compulsion, to hear Volkanovski tell it.
“I needed it,” Volkanovski says of accepting the fight with 11 days to prepare. “A lot of people will say it’s for the money and all of that, but it was much more than that.”
After saying that, the defeated challenger showed a more vulnerable side emotionally than the typically confident and affable Volkanovski is wont to show.
“I never thought I’d struggle with it, but I mean, for some reason when I wasn’t fighting or in camp,” he added, at this point pausing with a cuss and an unnecessary apology for getting choked up, “I needed a fight, and this opportunity came up. … I was struggling a little bit not fighting.”
Could Volkanovski, on the right night, beat Makhachev? Absolutely. You would be crazy to write that possibility off just because of an 0-2 head-to-head mark.
But the same could be said of Max Holloway, who’s winless in three tries against Volkanovski yet remains the clear second-best featherweight in the world. And it’s hard to see him getting a fourth chance. And, for the record, he never got his head knocked off by a Volkanovski head kick.
The door to lightweight should stay closed to Volkanovski for the foreseeable future, barring some major-money matching against someone other than Makhachev. Think Conor McGregor-level, knowing that there’s almost no chance of that happening.
Volkanovski chases history. He wants to cement a legacy in mixed martial arts, the sport he found after his rugby days. As much as he wants to — and, if you ask him, knows he can — become the lightweight champion as well, he’s plenty capable of cementing himself among the legends of the sport. He basically already has at this point, and he can climb higher.
“Maybe this happened to give me a kick up the ass for being silly. It won’t happen again now,” said Volkanovski, pondering aloud the lesson to be learned from taking a fight against one of the top fighters on the planet on such short notice. “Maybe that’s what it was. Maybe this will kick me back into gear, get back in there, go back to the featherweight division and kick ass there.”
Return to Babylon, Alexander, and rule like a conqueror.
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