Alexander Volkanovski is the current UFC featherweight champion and the No. 2 ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the promotion. The 34-year-old Australian is a former rugby player who also had a one-fight professional boxing career.
He is known as Alexander the Great, owing to his father’s Macedonian lineage and his mother being Greek. Volkanovski has been the UFC’s 145-pound champion since December 2019 and he has successfully defended his belt four times.
In This Alexander Volkanovski Story…
- Alexander Volkanovski Quick Facts
- Alexander Volkanovski Record
- Alexander Volkanovski Stats
- Alexander Volkanovski Early Career
- Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway
- Alexander Volkanovski vs Islam Makhachev
- Alexander Volkanovski Next Fight
- Alexander Volkanovski Personal Life
- Alexander Volkanovski Net Worth
- Alexander Volkanovski Car
- Alex, Mark & Israel
- Collaborations
- Leisure
Alexander Volkanovski Quick Facts
| Name: | Alexander Volkanovski |
| Age: | 34 years old |
| Date of Birth: | September 29, 1988 |
| Place of Birth: | Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia |
| Nationality: | Australian |
| Height: | 168 cm (5 ft 6 in) |
| Weight: | 65.77 kg ( 145 lbs ) |
| Reach: | 71 in |
| Fighting Stance: | Orthodox |
| Net Worth: | $3.5 million |
| Last Fight Purse: | $1,000,000 |
| Instagram: | @alexvolkanovski 1.3M followers |
| Twitter: | @alexvolkanovski 389.1K followers |
Alexander Volkanovski Record
Alexander Volkanovski has an overall record of 25-2 with 12 knockouts and 3 submission wins. He won his first dozen UFC bouts before losing to Makhachev in his last bout.
He is tied with Arnold Allen for the second-longest winning streak in the UFC featherweight division with 10. His five wins in featherweight title fights are also tied with Holloway for most in the weight class.
Alexander Volkanovski Stats
Below are Alexander Volkanovski’s fight stats per ufcstats.com:
- Significant Strikes landed per 15 minutes: 6.35
- Significant Striking Accuracy: 56%
- Significant Strikes Absorbed per minute: 3.40
- Significant Striking Defense: 59%
- Average Takedowns Lander per 15 minutes: 1.52
- Takedown accuracy: 34%
- Takedown Defense: 69%
- Average Submissions attempted per 15 minutes: 0.2
Alexander Volkanovski Early Career
Volkanovski remembers the day he first set foot inside the Freestyle Fighting Gym. Via ufc.com, Volk said:
“I remember walking in, this was the first time I ever went into my coach’s gym. And I was going to do it more for pre-season (for rugby). I remember there was a guy at my school, he was a bit older, he looks at me and goes ‘What are you doing here? You’re going to get smashed.’ This is before I even walked in the door. I sort of brushed it off, I could’ve turned around and never done an MMA fight or trained MMA at all, but I didn’t really care and just went in.”
“The next day, that same guy was there, and I remember we had grappling. And this was the first grapple I’d ever done, and he’d been doing it for a little while, he might have even been a blue belt. And I just remember absolutely smashing him, I was all over him (laughs). And he never set foot in our gym ever again. And that’s sort of where I thought this ain’t too bad, I’m taking out these guys that think they’re good and that was probably where I was like, I think I’ve got it.”
From that day on, he fell in love with MMA and soon, he had to choose between rugby and his newfound love.
“(When I played rugby) I was a 97-kilogram front-rower. They call them ‘props,’ one of the guys that just runs straight at people pretty much. And I used to be pretty good at it. I was a (legendary Australian rugby player) Mick Cronin medalist, and Man of the Match in the last year of football, and I had a couple of fights that year,” Volkanovski added. “That’s when I decided, we’re finishing in a good year, we won the final, I scored a try, won Man of the Match, and I made the decision to go to MMA and take MMA seriously and it was probably one of the best decisions I ever made.”
He made his professional MMA debut in 2012 and after amassing a record of 13-1, he got the call of his life when he was booked to fight at UFC Fight Night 101 in Melbourne. Volkanovski knocked out Yusuke Kasuya in the second round of a lightweight bout. His next fights would be in UFC events held in Australia.
Then in 2018, he picked up back-to-back wins over Darren Elkins and Chad Mendes. That led to a bout against Jose Aldo at UFC 237 in Aldo’s backyard in Brazil. He beat Aldo to earn a title shot at UFC 245.
Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway
Having won seven consecutive bouts, Volkanovski faced his biggest challenge as he faced Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title at UFC 245. Volkanovski used heavy leg kicks to limit Holloway’s movement and shut down Max’s offense in a clinical performance that won him the fight via scores of 48-47, 48-47, and 50-45.
Holloway got an immediate rematch and looked better in the second fight. Many thought Holloway did enough to reclaim the belt at UFC 251 with 18 out of 27 media outlets scoring the bout for Blessed. But after five rounds, the judges awarded Volkanovski with a split decision win.
The pair would meet a third time last year at UFC 276 and this time around, Volkanovski left no doubt as he won all rounds in the three judges’ scorecards to close the book on his rivalry with Max Holloway.
Alexander Volkanovski vs Islam Makhachev
After beating the opponent whom experts said was the only fighter who had a chance of beating him at featherweight, Volkanovski accepted a challenge to fight the unbeaten lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in a champion vs . champion showdown.
The super fight was booked for UFC 284 last February 12, 2023, at the RAC Arena in
Perth, Western Australia. Egged on by his countrymen, Volkanovski took Makhachev to his absolute limit and never backed down. Showing his trademark heart of a champion, Volkanovski outstruck Makhachev 164-95 in total strikes and 70 to 57 in significant strikes.
But the bigger Makhachev completed four out of nine takedown attempts while holding Volkanovski down on the mat for 7:37. Despite that, it appeared that Volkanovski might have pulled off the massive upset. However, when the scores were read, the judges gave the bout to Makhachev 48-47, 48-47, 49-46.
It was only the second loss of Volkanovski’s career and the first defeat since his fourth professional bout. But although he was beaten by Makhachev, Volkanovski won the respect of the MMA world with his performance.
After the fight, Volkanovski was gracious in defeat. However, after he watched the fight on tape, he agreed with the majority of the press people who scored the bout in his favor.
Alexander Volkanovski Next Fight
Following his loss to Makhachev, Volkanovski returned to featherweight and the UFC booked him to a title defense against No. 1 contender Yair Rodriguez. When Volkanovski left to focus on fighting Makhachev, the UFC held an interim featherweight title bout between Rodriguez and Josh Emmett. Rodriguez won the fight and the interim belt via submission.
And so Volkanovski will headline UFC 290 against Rodriguez at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 8, 2023. It will mark Volkanovski’s 5th defense of the undisputed featherweight championship.
Alexander Volkanovski Personal Life
Alexander Volkanovski was born on September 29, 1988, in New South Wales to Tony and Mary Volkanovski. Alex’s father was born in Macedonia while his mother was born in Greece. At a young age, Alex trained in greco-roman wrestling but soon gave it up to focus on rugby.
While working to get a rugby career, Volkanovki worked as a concreter after graduation. Soon, he played semi-professional rugby for the Warilla Gorillas in the Group 7 Rugby League. Alex played a key role in Warilla’s Grand Final win over Gerringong in the 2011 Premiership season. Volkanovski won the Man of the Match award in the Grand Final.
But at the age of 23, Volkanovski quit rugby to focus on mixed martial arts. At first, he took up MMA to keep himself in rugby shape but soon he realized that MMA was his true calling.
Alex is married to Emma Volkanovski since October 12, 2022. She owns a degree in Psychology from the University of Sydney but is now busy as a housewife while attending to their two daughters Ariana and Airlie. The Volkanovski are expecting a third daughter soon.
Although he looked happy, it’s not hard to miss the disappointment on Alex’s face. He was probably hoping for a boy and it turned out the other way. For now, Alex will continue to be the only thorn among the roses at the Volkanovski residence.
Alex spent time at Tom Brady’s, answering questions and engaging in interviews. He also visited pro boxer Israel Adesanya. He had a freestyle boxing round with WWE Wrestler Logan Paul.
Alexander Volkanovski Net Worth
Alexander Volkaovski has a net worth of $3.5 million according to wealthygorilla.com. That’s the same figure reported at givemesport.com and mediareferee.com. Volkanovski earned a base pay of $1 million for his last fight against Islam Makhachev plus $42,000 in promotional pay and an undisclosed PPV share. That marked the second consecutive fight where Volk’s base pay was at $1 million.
According to his website, he has tie-ups with companies BaiMed, CMBT, Engage, and Freestyle MMA gym. In June 2023, Volkanovski signed an endorsement deal with Logan Paul’s PRIME sports drink. He and UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya are the first endorsers of Logan’s recently launched product.
Alexander Volkanovski Car
Alexander Volkanovski drives a black F-type Jaguar car.
“It’s second-hand,” Volkanovski told the Sydney Morning Herald last year. “I don’t want a Lamborghini. I don’t need a Lamborghini. Can I buy one? Yeah, definitely, I can buy one. Can I really afford it? I’d rather look after my family and do what I need to do.”
Alex, Mark & Israel
Alex is very close to Israel and the Meta boss, Mark Zuckerberg. The trio were seen freestyle boxing in 2023. Recently, Alex engaged his fans in a questionnaire and they stood a chance to win his gloves. He spends his free time cooking steaks, fishing octopuses, and swimming. He sees himself as an inspiration to Australia. He spent his free time fishing at NT Australia with Mark Zuckerberg & Israel Adesanya. Alex and Israel had a freestyle boxing round in Engage’s headquarters in 2023. They are known for their martial arts freestyle.
Collaborations
As the face of Prime Drink, he welcomed new signee Israel Adesanya to the club as Prime’s official athlete. He invited the Nuggets team to his next match. Alex, as the face of the brands Dosbrak and Engage, collaborated to create a mesh. Prime also gave out free tickets to his fans to watch UFC290. The faces of UFC’s standard edition cover 2023 featured Alex and his female colleague Valentina.
Leisure
He spent his free time cooking up Wagyu burgers. He also visited Las Vegas in December 2023. At the beginning of the year 2024, he equated the best feeling to having a family grill to mark the new year. He also celebrated himself as the champion for over 1500 days.