Alexander Volkanovski is THAT GOOD 🗣️ Previewing the Islam Makhachev rematch at UFC 294 | ESPN MMA Brett Okamoto …
Brett okamoto in Abu Dhabi alongside Daniel Cormier for UFC what what are we on here 294 UFC 294 yeah it’s a Well we getting up there and I I wanted to say UFC 284 but uh the reason I want to say that is that was the last time we had Islam makev fight Alexander volkanovski in a very different circumstance very very different circumstance we are here in Abu Dhabi last time was Perth how was your flight over I saw your Instagram story you said you’re fancy dude did you see me I had champ I had my finger up did you see that they hooked me up I was in a business beautiful business class seat they had a bar on the airplane it was perfect they treated me the way I was supposed to be treated you like champagne you’re a champagne Drinker now I don’t drink champagne unless I’m in the right situation you know what I’m saying if I’m in a beautiful situation I might sip a little bubbly how’s your jet lag you feeling okay I’m good man I don’t get tired as long as I got video games fc24 EA Sports as long as I got it I’m in business and I got the new UFC 5 right I’m on the game it don’t come out for another month I got it going be the best that will play it so uh you just sat down with Alexander volkanovski for your mediocre YouTube channel what’s it called the check inck with d d checkin you love those it was actually pretty good you love the DC checkins what was your takea away from Alex vinoski after talking to him just confidence I mean confident as confident as you can be especially under some tough circumstances but if there’s anyone that can do this man it is Alexander volkanovski he is the number one pound pound fighter in the world and when we watch him compete you get the idea that he can fight as long as you will allow him to so if he only has to do five rounds you could imagine that he’s ready to do that getting off the couch yeah he’s that good man and I think we see him evolve every time from fight one to fight three against Hall obviously that was very evident but then fighting Islam the way he did and then doing what he did to Y Rodriguez it just shows you that this man has improved every time he goes into the gym and then he shows those improvements when he steps into the Octagon yeah operating on absolutely all cylinders but you asked one of the first questions you asked him and it was kind of like along my thinking as well is I understand why you take this fight I get it you get an opportunity you get it thrown at you you’re he was always going to say yes he was going to say yes but I am of the opinion that because he’s Alex volkanovski and because he has looked so good the UFC was going to give him this fight the UFC was going to give it to him so you didn’t have to take it under these circumstances if you were his guy advising him would you have told him to take this fight you know if I’m being completely honest I would have said hold off let’s get a fair let’s get a fair opportunity let’s get our full Camp let’s get a chance to go out there and do what we did the last time with all the information that we gathered in the first fight this time you cannot put all that in the play but he did say one thing Brett he said during all of my camps now when I’m training or in between camps I say well Islam did this MH right so let’s work on this make sure that he goes oh well Islam did this so it’s like even when he’s preparing for everybody else he still kind of has his mind set on Islam so Islam’s never far away from his mind and I believe that he knew that it was going to be Charles he thinks Justin Gat was going to be next so he thought the opportunity may pass him by yeah so he jumped on it but I would have probably waited because he is Alexander volkanovski and he is p b number one and it doesn’t look like guys are going to be able to beat him at 145 if we’re being honest now love ilot theoria and I’m interested to see what happens but if we are going on the knowledge that we have it seems like he’s up against it it’s always it’s always a tough decision to make and that’s why this sport is so fascinating in between fights decision making you get this opportunity but imagine if he gets it done of course imagine if he gets it done sometimes um well not sometimes oftentimes you know every weekend we we see a fight and what do these guys say they’re like like how are you going to celebrate I’m going to be in the gym the next day I never heard that about Daniel Cormier were you in the gym gym the next day in the beginning yeah in the beginning yeah in the beginning I would fight on Saturday back to the gym on Monday but the fights were easy Once the fights got harder it’s almost impossible to be back in the gym on Monday people tell you that they may be back in the gym but they’re in the gym with their belt getting padded on the back all of their teammates they’re not training and that’s why I was going to ask you the question is because Alex says you know he had minor elbow surgery right after that last fight and then he’s like oh I’ve been I’ve been in the gym I’ve never take time off I’ve even been sparring for the last four weeks which I thought was insane um but tell me take me into like the mind of a fighter if you don’t have something booked even if you’re in there sparring like what percentage of him is he like it’s like what can we expect like like if it’s a 100% Alex vinoski in February what percent is he going into this one I bet we’re going to see about a 70 75% Alexander volkanovski was he that good he’s that good and in five days he said he had five hard days and in those five days you feel a switch you feel a switch in your body you feel a switch in your weight you feel a switch in your mind it all changes in that first week of training camp but you’re sparring but you’re light sparring right at AKA we had a thing called the Red Room you never got hurt in the Red Room because you’re were going light guys got hurt and sparring when we had to go inside the cage Red Room you’re doing 10 rounds but you’re doing 10 Rounds you’re in front of a man for 10 Rounds you’re hitting him you’re kicking you’re working on technique you’re trying new things and I believe that’s the type of sparring that volkanovski was doing so while it may not have been at the intensity level that you have when you have a fight Camp you’re still in there with a man in front of you sparring with them throwing punches at a moving Target and working on and free oh my goodness it’s so free because in that red room K Velasquez is not trying to take your head off yeah he’s just kind of touching you yeah still hurts yeah but he’s just kind of touching you so you feel more free to try things yeah last thing on the main event because I’m sure you know Charlie he’s probably got a Zer to the door making sure that we wrap up here pretty soon um that dude is crazy after the first fight between Alex and Islam I remember distinctly being backstage talking to Alex and it it was like one of those situations and a lot this happens a lot when a guy loses because you guys are so competitive but he’s like let me go back out there right now I know what I did let me go back out there right now I’ll fix it is that I know that that’s real in his head is that the reality though like is he going to go out there with these like oh I just know if I just do this but you know Islam is also a smart guy as well like do you know what I’m saying here like this confidence that Alex has of like dude now that I’ve done it I can get it done is that real I think it’s real in his mind because there’s a part of him that realizes I could have given more in this fight but when you’re fighting someone for the first time it’s all guessing you guess at how good he is in grappling you guess at how good he is in Striking he knows now he knows that he can compete with him on the standup he knows that Islam can compete with him in the stand up and he also knows that he can wrestle with Islam right so all this information now is rooted in knowledge of doing it and I think that lends itself to him going I want to fight this dude yeah it has to be him because I feel like I can beat him I was not of the belief that he won the first fight he’ll tell you that right to my face I thought he lost the fight three to2 yeah um but it was competitive and I think when you have a guy like makach who has dominated for so long in a competitive fight right it lends to the idea that he lost because the Optics are so different from what you have seen prior and vul is taking a lot of confidence from it but I think Islam will be more prepared for the challenge in front of him this time I just wonder like when I I’m as I’m watching this fight is going to be fascinating because I just saw that like belief that Alex had that like oh I I know I know the blueprint now I know the answers and if he gets out there and those answers aren’t working again then how does he adjust I’m sure he will CU he’s one of the best he’s a professor man he’s like the Prof that’s that should be his nickname the professor that’s a good one yeah the professor Alexander volkanovski one last thing coing event and I because you know it’s only Wednesday so we’re going to have time to talk about this the only thing I’ll ask you about Kamar Usman and ham Zay is what fascinates you the most you’re wrestling guy so maybe there’s some wrestling components of this but then the short notice nature of it as well the mindsets what is the most fascinating thing to you about this fight and then we’ll talk about it later on in the week I just think that it’s a Crossroads fight if there’s ever been one Kamar Usman up at 185 with the idea that he can be the champion there Sean Strickland has opened up a whole new world of opportunity for guys at middleweight and he’s at this this this intersection of he’s going to either go forward into something else great or he’s going to have to go back down to 170 work his way back to a champion that’s beaten him twice Hamza chamay is on the verge of Super Starter he has crossed every single obstacle he has met and beat every challenge now we gets a former Champion a guy that was at one point considered the pmom number one fighter in the world one fight removed from fighting for the belt that he was in the weight class I I I like to make the parallel to sha Ali with poran right even though many thought Shawn lost you knew he belonged up there now hza we still got to find out if he belongs up there sure he beat Gilbert Burns right so you know he’s one of the better welterweights the world but if you beat the former champ it’s all systems go for this dude in what many believe is a favorable matchup against the new champ Sean Strickland yeah so it’s like I think it’s a Crossroads fight man and I believe that in those types of environments in those types of situations you get the absolute best of both Fighters yeah you’re G to get a Kamar Usman that’s motivated driven to go do something great and you’re get G to get a hamach that is just hamach he’s out of his damn mind yeah I can’t wait cannot wait for that com event can’t wait for the whole card nice job breaking down the card 24 hours removed from uh from the flight and make sure you’re watching the check-in I I was lying it’s better than mediocre even though like when you ask Alexander vovi a question are you listening to the answer or you just you just concentrating on the golf swing you don’t even hear a single word he say list I listen but sometimes my mind drifts I kind of wish I could see what was going on in mind TWY Bird’s like floating over my head I’m 44 years old and I had a fight career and a wrestling career so at times I might drift it’s a lot of fun man stay tuned to the ESPN MMA Channel we’ll be here all week thanks for watching