Alexander Volkanovski Aims to Prove 145-Pound Supremacy Against Ilia Topuria

Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski is eager to remind everyone why he’s been on top of the featherweight division for almost five years.

Volkanovski (26-3) is booked to face Ilia Topuria (14-0) at UFC 298, which is set to go down Feb. 17 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

While the two were initially rumored to be the main event for UFC 297, Volkanovski's UFC 294 knockout loss against lightweight ruler Islam Makhachev understandably led to the postponement of the featherweight title matchup.

“The Great” decided to bet on himself when he challenged Makhachev on 10 days’ notice in a rematch for the lightweight title. Things didn't pan out for the Aussie as he went on to suffer a devastating Round 1 knockout loss at the hands of the Dagestani.

With Topuria now predicting a first-round finish against him, “The Great” can't help but feel that his undefeated opponent might be coming in with such confidence more so because of his recent setback at lightweight. However, the 35-year-old is certain that his skill set will be “too much" for his opponent to deal with.

“He’s a powerful dude, he’s good everywhere,” Volkanovski told Fox Sports Australia. “He’s not one-dimensional, he’s obviously very well-rounded, I just believe my skills and my understanding of the game, it’s just going to be that little bit too much for him. He’s a young, hungry dude, undefeated. Very, very confident but I think he needs a little bit of humbling, so I’m glad to be the man to do that. He’s a powerful dude, he likes his boxing, but again, I just need to show him that I’m a whole different breed. He’s going to come in confident. Probably even more confident after my last performance. There’s a lot of people who are going to be like, ‘What’s going on here?’ And I can’t wait to show them why I’ve been the king of this division for so long.”

A win against Topuria at UFC 298 would mark the sixth title defense of Volkanovski’s decorated reign at 145 pounds.