35-year-old Alexander Volkanovski is all set to defend his title at UFC 298 on Saturday, February 17th. ‘ Volk’ is making a return to the featherweight division after a brief stint at the lightweight division. Previously, the ex-rugby player suffered a brutal knockout at the hands of Islam Makhachev at UFC 294. Regardless, he is back to the division where many consider him the greatest.

His opponent is the 27-year-old young prodigy Ilia Topuria. ‘ El Mmatador’ is currently unbeaten in the division and holds a perfect record of 14-0-0. Many believe that Topuria will be the toughest challenge to date for the featherweight champion, but the Aussie doesn’t quite agree with the fact.

Alexander Volkanovski feels Topuria is dangerous but not the toughest

Ilia Topuria has taken the division by storm with his recent undertakings inside the Octagon. The outspoken Spaniard not only can knock out opponents but also has a good ground game. While his recent performances have forced the experts to believe that he might be the toughest to date, ‘ Volk’ doesn’t agree with the fact. Before their fight at UFC 298, Volkanovski appeared in a recent interview with Main Event on YouTube.

During the interview, the host asked the 35-year-old whether he considers ‘ El Matador’ the toughest ever. Volkanovski replied: “We’ll see. It’s you know I want to sit there and say that to you that you know to hype the fight up you know what I mean. Look, I think he’s dangerous, I think he’s powerful, I think there might be some things that I could really talk up. But I mean, at the same time, look at the people I faced. Like to say that he is the toughest that’s disrespectful to some of the best fighters in the world. Uh, so he hasn’t proved that to me yet, but we’ll see.”

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The fight has already gathered a lot of attention after the challenger called the champion old. He has also been vocal about dethroning the champion.’ Volk’, on the other hand, also shared his game plan and promised to ‘ humble’ the outspoken Spaniard. While the 35-year-old is confident about his fighting IQ and experience, former UFC champion Daniel Cormier looks a bit concerned for the champion.

Daniel Cormier looks concerned for ‘The Great’ before UFC 298

Former UFC two-division champion Daniel Cormier recently made an appearance on the famous JRE podcast. Both Rogan and Cormier discussed Volkanovski’s previous fight against Islam Makhachev at UFC  294. The 35-year-old Aussie took the fight on ten days, notice, and lost the fight via a brutal head kick. Cormier agreed that taking the fight on such short notice was never wise, but felt it was ‘ Volk’s’ greatness that allowed him to take on the fight.

‘ DC ‘ said: “The only reason anyone thought he had an opportunity [against Makhachev] was because of how great he is, right? If he wasn’t so great, nobody would have ever thought he had a chance.”  Cormier further added: “I worry that because of his greatness, we’re gonna believe that… he’s going to fight [Ilia] Topuria and you almost expect the same thing.”

During the interview, 56-year-old Rogan also agreed to the fact that Topuria is dangerous but also reminded that Volkanovski was no pushover. With the featherweight title on the line, will we see a new champion at UFC 298? Let us know in the comments below.

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