Something has changed in Alexander Volkanovski.
It’s subtle, but as a Volkanovskologist, it’s noticeable. Heading into his fight with the undefeated Russian wrestler Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi, Volk will tell anyone who will listen how old he is.
He did a bit of this as a joke heading into his last few fights, particularly with Topuria as he donned an old man outfit, but this time it seems more sincere. He’s no longer poking fun at the narrative, he’s engaging seriously with it in interviews. Leading into this fight, he tells us freely that he’s “not in [his] prime anymore” but in the same breath he says it doesn’t matter because we’re going to see the most complete version of Volkanovski ever against Evloev.
He also, for the first time, is talking about retirement seriously. He’s said that if the fight goes “terribly wrong” against Evloev, he’ll give it away. If it doesn’t, he’ll keep rolling. That’s a far cry from what sounded like a man in mental health crisis after he was knocked out by Makhachev after stepping in on very late notice in 2023. After that fight he said he accepted the fight because “when I wasn’t fighting or in camp, I was doing my head in” and that he was “struggling a little bit” before emotionally begging the UFC to “keep [him] busy.”
His shift in mentality is drastic, but he might be right about seeing the best version of himself in any case. That’s true both because he knows how good he is on his own, but also how good he is in comparison to the rest of the division.
Volk is so relaxed because he knows he can’t get hurt in this fight. He also knows he’s probably going to win.
Assuming the fight goes ahead in the UAE and the Houthis don’t have other ideas about a major western event happening within distance of their ballistic missile range, we are in a position where we could see Volk really start to pour it on Father Time.
Evloev is obviously a talented fighter with a 20-0 MMA record. His base is as a master chain wrestler, who will essentially dominate you positionally but not hunt for finishes like Khabib Nurmagomedov or even Islam Makhachev would. Because of that constricting, blunting fighting style, all 10 of Evloev’s wins in the UFC have come by way of decision.
Good luck winning that way against Volk.
In his title-eliminator against Lerone Murphy, Evloev clearly got a talking to from the UFC who must have told him that if he wants a title shot it isn’t good enough just to win. He also needs to be exciting. In that fight, Evloev stood up and banged with Murphy and put on a more exciting fight than we’re used to from him, but his stand up is a far cry from his ground game. Evloev has just three knockouts in his MMA career, his last one coming against Rafael Dias in 2018, when Evloev was fighting under the M-1 Challenge banner.
If Evloev wrestles Volkanovski, Volk will at least blunt him and probably turn it around on Evloev, whom he will make work to hold his position like he did with Makhachev the first time.
If Evloev stands up against Volkanovski, he’s cooked. Volk just destroyed the far more dangerous Diego Lopes on the feet over two fights because he has a PhD in space, movement, and timing. He will keep Evloev moving, keep changing the picture that Evloev sees, and as Evloev is trying to solve a puzzle, Volk will sock him in the head, circle out, and make Evloev start solving the puzzle all over again. Even as an older fighter, Volkanovski knows he can still get the young boys thinking, and while they’re thinking he’s winning.
Volk is engaging with his age, and engaging with the prospect of the end because he’s lapping it. He’s rubbing Father Time’s nose in his very specific form of greatness. Very few have been in as much trouble against Father Time as Volkanovski was after back-to-back knockouts by Makhachev and Topuria then climbed back as he has. He’s done to Father Time what he did to Brian Ortega when he worked his way out of deep water in the Triangles and then immediately started pouring it on. The only other guy I can remember in a death fight with Father Time and then winning it is Tom Brady after the Kansas City game in 2017.
After Evloev, Volk is out of opponents. He’s completed the UFC like Jay Cartwright completed Championship Manager. If he keeps going, it’s just for him.
The only way Evloev really worries Volk is if Volk just gets old, which does happen in fights. But based on how he’s looked in his last few, and how openly he’s talking about how old he is, my bet is that Volk feels good heading into this fight and looking beyond it, he’s looking at the world like his namesake Alexander the Great.
After this one, there will be no more worlds to conquer. His greatness, already certain, will be chiselled into the pantheon of the old guys who still have it.
He’ll be one of the few who are so great, he beat Father Time to submission.