Former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will return from a 14-month layoff on Saturday night to fight Diego Lopes for the vacant 145lb title, and ahead of his comeback he’s acknowledged that some people will have doubts about him after having suffered back-to-back KO losses.
“Look, I think a lot of people are going to look at [those losses] and be like it was a bad run and they obviously can point to skill and what not,” Volkanovski said on the First Take show. “It was a short-notice fight that I took [against Makhachev]. I wanted to take a high-risk fight with high reward. I was ready to take it on and I thought I could it done. Didn’t go that way. Quick turnaround and got caught again [by Topuria].“
However, Volkanovski says that after his training camp for this fight he’s convinced he’s still got what it takes to become a champion again.
“A lot of people are going to look at that and be like ‘he’s done,’ and they have every right to think that. But for me, the guy that’s turning up at the gym, seeing what I’m seeing in preparation, I know I’m not done. There’s only one way to change everyone’s opinion is go out there this weekend and remind everybody. That’s exactly what I plan on doing.”
