Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski was so worried about the beatdown he put on Chan Sung Jung at UFC 273 that he checked in with his opponent halfway through the fight. Ultimately, referee Herb Dean stepped in and called a stop to the fight in the fourth round, but Volkanovski revealed on The MMA Hour that he tried to get the fight stopped for the Zombie’s sake beforehand.
“In the third round, I wanted to get that finish. I was very close, maybe a couple seconds — he did well, he’s tough, where I was just about to get the finish and he rolled a little bit more and then just held out for when that buzzer went. But seeing him in the corner, he was sitting on the ground, he was done.
Volkanovski to Zombie Mid-Fight: ‘Mate, are you sure you want to keep doing this?’
Like I said, he was defeated. Even when he got up and was playing with his eye and was even wobbling to the center, I was [wondering] whether it’s legit, which means it’s over anyway, or was it a sign to the ref and the commission like, ‘I’m done.’
Was that him asking for [the fight to be stopped]. That’s sort of what I felt, so I just said to him, ‘Mate, are you sure you want to keep doing this?’ I don’t know if he understood me, but he’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ and I’m like, ‘Are you sure? Alright.’
I think Herb knew where it was at, because I was like, come on, just stop it. I even said it a few times. So he was just like I’ll give him one last little chance but as soon as he eats a couple, he was gonna call it. So a lot of people knew it was done. Sometimes people being so tough, it’s worse for their own good.”
Volkanovksi dominated the Zombie throughout the fight, outstriking his opponent 138 to 48. It marks yet another title defense for Volkanovski, who is showing no signs of slowing down as the king of the UFC featherweight division. In the moment, he knew he was damaging his opponent, and began to worry for the Zombie’s safety.
“I probably rocked him like five, six times in there, maybe more. By the end of it, I’m glad Herb stopped it, because I felt like he definitely had enough.
I think he was ready. He sort of knew it was over. He was defeated already, let’s get him back home to the family healthy.” Was this a good stop? Let us know in the comments.
