5 Things You Need to Know About Alexander Volkov

The Russian mixed martial artist, Alexander Volkov, sits at number five in the UFC heavyweight rankings. He has the experience of forty-one fights with only eight defeats to his name. Now ‘Drago’ is all set to take on his next opponent Ciryl Gane at UFC Fight Night on June 26. The fight between the two is an important match-up as a victory could help determine the next title contender. Gane is a French fighter who sits two spots above the Russian at number three.

Alexander Volkov is one of the most skillful fighters on the roster, yet there is little known about the heavyweight.

Alexander Volkov is a family man

‘Drago’ is married to Vita Volkova, who is a Russian entrepreneur. Vita Volkov was born in Moscow, Russia, and met ‘Drago’ in 2013. The love birds dated for three years until 2016, when they finally tied the knot in August 2016. Two years after their marriage, the couple was blessed with a baby boy in November 2018.

As of now, Vita Volkova is the co-founder of Dental Volk Technologies, which designs dental care tools, and Vicare, a cosmetic brand that produces skincare products.

The Story of his back tattoo

The Russian has a giant samurai helmet tattooed on his back, which is based on the confrontation between life and death. Fight fans got to see his tattoo when Volkov faced Walt Harris back at UFC 254. Maxim Kislitsyn, who made this tattoo, shared a post showing his art and hard work, which took him 55 hours to work on.

He wrote, “Worked on the back of professional UFC fighter @volkov_alex. This is an incredibly resilient man. Very tightly tattooed for 2 weeks and the result is 55 hours of work. Thanks for the trust and strength of character💪🏻I wish you success in your fights and never stop!!! Sanya, you are awesome 🤛🏻P.S. After October, there will be a serious correction to hide the stingray as much as possible.” (Instagram translate)

Origin of his nickname ‘Drago’

The nickname ‘Drago’ came from a fictional character from the fourth edition of the Rocky movie franchise. ‘Drago’, portrayed by the Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren, is a Soviet-Russian shown as an antagonist/villain in the 1985 movie. ‘Drago’, the Russian, was the guy Rocky needed to beat to avenge his friend. The character ‘Drago’ became a pop culture icon which inspired Alexander Volkov to opt for the nickname as a tribute.

Alexander Volkov is a former champion

Before entering the UFC roster Volkov competed in different fighting promotions like Bellator, Union MMA Pro, Baltic Challenge, and more. He captured his first title fighting in Bellator against Richard Hale at BFC 84. Soon after, Volkov lost his gold to Vitaly Minakov in his next fight. Then ‘Drago’ moved to M1- Challenge, where he won and successfully defended his title before entering the UFC.

Alexander Volkov is a Knockout artist

The Heavyweight division is stacked with scary fighters like Francis Ngannou, Derrick Lewis, Stipe Miocic. But people hardly know that the Russian has more T/KO win than any of these top heavyweights.

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He has twenty-two T/KO victories to his fighting resume, with three submissions and eight decision victories. Volkov has a knockout rate of 53.6% which shows he stops one out of his two opponents via T/KO, making him a legit knock-out artist.

Also read: UFC Fight Night: Gane vs Volkov- Shavkat Rakhmonov vs Michel Prazeres: Prelims Prediction and Analysis

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