Ahead of Alexander Volkanovski’s bold challenge of lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, the longtime featherweight champ opted to put on a little extra muscle.
Win or lose, it was always going to be temporary, said Volkanovski (25-2, 15 finishes) at the time.
And ahead of his return to the division over which he has lorded since December 2019, he says the journey back down to 145 pounds for Saturday’s UFC 290 (10 p.m. ET, ESPN+ pay-per-view) title unification against interim champ Yair Rodriguez has been just fine.
“Not too bad,” Volkanovski told The Post recently via Zoom. “The weight, actually, after [the Makhachev fight] wasn’t too bad. I might be holding a little bit more muscle than usual, but nothing too crazy. The weight’s fine.”
The Makhachev fight didn’t go as planned, with Volkanovski having his moments but ultimately losing a unanimous decision in front of his supportive Australian countrymen in February.
That loss came at 155 pounds, and Volkanovski remains undefeated in his MMA career as a featherweight at 15-0.
That mark includes five victories in UFC featherweight championship fights — three over Max Holloway, one of a trio of longtime great UFC champions in the weight class.
Those five championship wins are tied with Holloway for the second-most in UFC featherweight history but still three behind Jose Aldo’s mark, which excludes the three more title victories the Brazilian earned in the lineal precursor WEC 145-pound weight class.
In other words, Volkanovski has work to do to catch up to Aldo, who will be enshrined this week into the UFC Hall of Fame’s Modern Wing.
Volkanovksi would be up for the challenge of catching Aldo’s impressive marks in their shared weight class, but the legacy-conscious current champ also has his sights on other ways to distinguish himself.
“There’s a lot of … goals that I have, a lot of records I want to break. But at the same time, it’s the people I’m fighting as well,” says the 34-year-old. “I’m fighting the best guys there are, and our division’s a stacked division. So I’m gonna keep these [title] defenses going and, hopefully, break that incredible record that Aldo does hold. That’s definitely something I would love to do.
“But right now, whoever it is, give me the big fights because I really think that’s what people are going to remember: the big fights. I’m putting myself in a position to take on the best, time and time again. I think that’s really saying something.”
Volkanovksi, who defeated Aldo in 2019 to earn the initial title challenge against Holloway, also has wins over Chan Sung Jung and Brian Ortega with his belt on the line.
Rodriguez (15-3, nine finishes), the man he faces this weekend in Las Vegas, brings his own belt to the table after winning the interim crown on the same night Volkanovski lost his bid to claim a second division crown.
The 30-year-old from Mexico is known for a knack of finishing fights any way at any time, having submitted Josh Emmett with a second-round triangle choke in February, stopped Ortega in the first frame last July on Long Island and in 2018 knocked out Jung with a crushing standing elbow with just one second left in a fight he was destined to lose on the scorecards.
That clear and present danger that Rodriguez brings to the table excites Volkanovski as his quest for greatness continues.
“Not only is he unpredictable, he’s always looking for a finish,” Volkanovski said of Rodriguez. “He really puts himself out there to look for that finish, which is obviously fun. It’s exciting; that’s why the fans are in for a treat.
“But as exciting as it is for me to prepare for … there’s gonna be a lot of opportunities there. Where he’s most dangerous can leave him open with giving me some opportunities to really capitalize on things as well.”