UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski credited his opponent Max Holloway’s trash talk in fight week with giving him “the fire” necessary to dominate Holloway in a five-round title defense at UFC 276. Volkanovski elaborated at the post-fight press conference. “It worked against him because it gave me the fire. I needed that.
I was going to go to that [pre-fight] press conference, I thought it was going to be chill. I didn’t expect much. It ended up being chaos from all angles, which is fine. I wanted to go there, I was going to soak up the energy, even if it was boos, whatever, I was using that to get that fire in the belly.
Volkanovski: Holloway Trash Talk “worked against him because it gave me the fire”
He started trash-talking, I was like, ‘Thank you, I needed that.’ I said it to him, that’s why I was chilling, I was smiling, like, letting him know that it ain’t affecting me, it ain’t getting inside my head. I don’t know if it was a part of his game to get inside my head and try make me brawl or something like that and fight silly, I don’t, but I was like, ‘Mate, you just put fire in my belly. That’s all you did.’ And at the weigh-in, now that I showed him that it didn’t work, I wanted to add on to that.”
Alexander Volkanovski credited Holloway with helping him improve his game over the course of their trilogy.“I wouldn’t be the fighter I am today without him. He’s made me raise the bar. I don’t need anyone help me raise the bar, I do it myself, but he makes it easy to make me be disciplined.”
Comments from the fans and the media favoring Holloway despite Volkanovski’s stunning record added fuel to the fire, but the champ insists that it’s all water under the bridge now. “I’ve moved past it, so I don’t hold a grudge.
It’s all good. But there was a time that sh*t did get to me. It was hurting, it was hard time, but it made me who I am now, so I’m proud that it happened. It was a good experience for me, made me unstoppable, invincible. A lot of people were bringing me down.”
In fact, Volkanovski pointed out that three victories over an elite fighter like Max Holloway should give fans some insight into how great he truly is.
“To sit there and take someone like Max three times, that’s really, really, really saying something. They are a lot bigger wins than your average defense.”
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