Alexander Volkanovski Doesn’t Want To Test Islam Makhachev’s Gas Tank

Alexander Volkanovski plans on knocking Islam Makhachev out in their rematch at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

The UFC featherweight king suffered his lone promotional loss against Makhachev at UFC 284 in February in a closely contested decision that many believe could have gone either way. After going toe-to-toe against Makhachev for twenty-five minutes, Volkanovksi claims he has been almost impossible to take down or be submitted inside the gym.

The Australian believes he’ll be a tougher puzzle for Makhachev to solve as he steps up for his second double-champ bid on 10 days’ notice. While the fight is on short notice, it came as a sort of relief for Volkanovski, who has already fought twice this year and was getting impatient to get back in the Octagon. Volkanovski is focused on finishing the fight early and doesn’t plan on testing his opponent’s gas tank even though he claims he could.

“I’m gonna be even harder to take down even with the short notice. Just purely because my freshness, how excited I am and my takedown defense, I haven’t missed a beat,” Volkanovski said during a recent media scrum (video via Submission Radio). “So it’s gonna be fun… We wanna make sure it doesn’t go five rounds. I want to finish it early; I don’t want to test his gas tank. Don’t get me wrong, I reckon I can do it but let’s not try and test it. Let’s just finish him nice and early.”