Everyone appeared to breathe a collective sigh of relief when former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski agreed to take a break from competing after his second KO loss in the space of a few months back in February, but now his coach Joe Lopez feels that his lay-off has now gone on for too long.
“I would have said six to eight months was plenty, you know,” Lopez told Submission Radio. “Now we’re coming up to nearly 12 months. And it’s a bit too long.
“And that’s if Spain [title challenge against Ilia Topuria] goes ahead,” Lopez continued. “They have trouble booking the stadiums over there because they’re all booked, out I guess.
“Now we just really want to get back in there. Because it’s been too long a break. Alex is itching.”
Volkanovski has been used to fighting on a regular basis throughout the vast majority of his UFC career, though it should be noted that after his first successful 145lb title defense against Max Holloway back in 2019 there was a 14-month break before he returned to beat Brian Ortega in his next fight.
Volkanovski was still in his prime back then though, whereas now he’s 36-years-old and coming off a couple of tough losses, so time and momentum are no longer on his side.
And so it seems that now Volkanovski is pushing for a fight in the mean time against Diego Lopes in February, who as it happens Lopez believes is currently reaping the rewards of his own extended run of success in the Octagon.
“You start taking a few wins and all of a sudden your confidence grows and with that you grow as a fighter…,” Lopez said. “There’s little things that can separate them and a lot of times it’s that little mental edge. You’re on such a high and you’re so confident that your body and your mind and everything just thinks and reacts differently than the other fighters.”
