Joshua Culibao Opens up on Training With Alexander Volkanovski

UFC featherweight, Joshua Culibao (8-1) recently spoke to reporters about his opportunity to train with fellow Australian and UFC Featherweight Champion, Alexander Volkanovski.

The Australian-Filipino fighter will go up against Charles Jourdain this weekend. This fight will come in the wake of his defeat at his UFC debut against Jalin Turner. ‘Kuya’ claimed to have accepted the fight on short notice because, “saying no to the UFC was just not an option.”

Joshua’s preparation for his late notice debut bout against Turner at UFC Auckland had one aim. It was mainly focused on him being able to shed enough weight to make the lightweight limit. He mentioned that he had taken on the fight when he was fat and sloppy.

Culibao said, “I literally came off the couch for that.” He further spoke about how he wanted to silence his critics and added, “Jalin made me look stupid in there, and I genuinely need to prove everybody wrong.”

The 26-year-old’s training regime with Volkanovski for his upcoming fight against Jourdain has been vastly different from his regime before the Turner fight. ‘Kuya’ has been all praise for the featherweight champion’s work ethic and is looking to implement it himself. He said, “It was a massive eye-opener and I’m really grateful that Volkanovski gave me a chance to help him out.”

‘The Great‘ recently defended his UFC Featherweight Title in July 2020, against Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway in a razor-close split decision win.

Joshua Culibao praises Alexander Volkanovski ahead of his fight

As Culibao heads into fight week, he is keen on utilizing what he has learned from the Champ. He said, “I helped him [Volkanovski] out and had a quick look at how he plans his training and how he does his strength and conditioning, his nutrition and sort of just imitated what he was doing.”

Culibao was full of admiration for Volkanovski. He added, “The way he treats everything, he’s literally what we call a one-percenter in Australia. He does everything to gain that one percent, and that’s why he’s where he is and at the top.”

The fighter also had some words of praise for his next opponent, Jourdain. He said, “I like it, I like it. He’s a very slick striker, and he’s great all round.”

Joshua Culibao is clearly raring to go to. He will want to show the world what he’s really made of, now that he’s put in the hard work. Watch him go up against Jourdain this weekend, at UFC Fight Night: Holm vs. Aldana.