Alexander Volkanovski followed in the footsteps of one Conor McGregor to become UFC Champion.
The former UFC Featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski took an all-too familiar road to UFC gold, beating the likes of Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo and lastly Max Holloway to win the title at UFC 245 in 2019.
Those three fighters are storied rivals of Conor McGregor, MMA’s biggest superstar and one of the five greatest featherweights of all time.
Just like Volkanovski, McGregor fought former UFC title challenger Mendes in his sixth UFC fight and the legendary Aldo in his seventh.
The similarities don’t stop there.
Chad Mendes also gave Alexander Volkanovski a run for his money
Labeled a ‘mirror match’ because of their 5’6″ stature and styles, the #10-ranked Volkanovski faced off with Chad ‘Money’ Mendes at UFC 232 on Dec. 29, 2018.
Mendes was able to take down Volkanovski three times in their fight, though he wasn’t able to hold down the future champion for long. The American did find much success on the feet in the second round, nearly knocking Volkanovski out with strikes.
Volkanovski was dropped with a left hook and put on the backfoot, eating a few more shots.
20 seconds later, Volkanovski stood his ground and landed a clean left hook of his own that earned Mendes’ respect.
For the rest of the round, Volkanovski would escape moments of trouble on the ground with blood dripping down his face. The last get-up for Volkanovski came with less than 90 seconds to go in round 2.
Alexander Volkanovski beat Conor McGregor’s KO time
This is where Alexander ‘The Great‘ really started to conquer Mendes, mixing in shots to the body and to the head, wearing on his opponent’s gas tank as Conor McGregor did three years prior in 2015.
One final punch to the body would do the trick for Volkanovski, sending Mendes down for a TKO stoppage – 43 seconds faster than McGregor’s.
Volkanovski joined McGregor, Aldo, and Frankie Edgar as the only other fighters to defeat Mendes in the Octagon.
Interestingly enough, Mendes gave three out of the four bloody cuts in their fights, stepping in as a replacement on two weeks’ notice after McGregor’s original opponent Jose Aldo withdrew from UFC 189 due to an injury.
McGregor battled through early adversity against Mendes, more so on the ground with Mendes scoring four takedowns against him. Mendes recently said it would’ve been an ‘easy fight’ if he had a full training camp.
McGregor absolutely had his way on the feet though, picking apart Mendes with well-placed kicks to the body and punches to the head for a ferocious finish in the closing seconds of round 2 to win interim UFC gold.
Both their wins against Chad Mendes comparable, there’s no arguing who had the better performance against Jose Aldo in their next fight as McGregor KO’ed Aldo in 13 seconds time. Volkanovski, on the other hand, defeated Aldo on the scorecards at UFC 237 in 2019.
Aldo was Volkanovski’s final contender fight before his crowning moment against Max Holloway later that year at UFC 245. Fast forward 10 fights and Alexander Volkanovski is still in title contention.
Volkanovski looks to reclaim the featherweight title in the UFC 314 main event against top contender Diego Lopes. The title was left vacant by UFC Champion, ‘Great’ slayer Ilia Topuria.
