Alexander Volkanovski hopped on a video call with his family post-fight at UFC 314.
‘The Great’ survived a knockdown to outpoint Diego Lopes over five rounds and become a two-time UFC featherweight champion at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, on Saturday night.
Fight fans immediately began talking about what’s next for Alexander Volkanovski, who worried some people by claiming he could be ready to return to the Octagon in July against Movsar Evloev or another top 145lb contender.
For a few days, at least, the man many believe is the featherweight GOAT wants to enjoy celebrating his latest MMA achievement with his pregnant wife and their three daughters.
Volkanovski sat down with the UFC for a backstage interview soon after winning back his belt.
The 36-year-old detailed a recent FaceTime call with his family, which got emotional when his youngest child had a heartbreaking reaction to seeing her dad busted up after going 25 minutes with Diego Lopes.
“I had the family just call me, which was cool,” Volkanovski said.
“They had to see me all bloodied. Reign, my little one, she’s only 19 months [old], she looks at me like, ‘Daddy! Daddy! And then she has a closer look and just starts bawling her eyes out because she could see my face.
“I didn’t think she’d understand what this is, but she knew I looked different.
“So, that was a cool moment, but I think I just wanna grab my phone and soak it up properly.”
Alexander Volkanovski’s scary eye injury
In another interview, Volkanovski relived the frightening moment he was blinded at UFC 314.
The Aussie fan favorite told Fox Sports that his left eye stopped working after being dropped in round two.
“I completely lost vision in my left eye,” Volkanoski said.
“It was a good shot, and then I could not see. I was trying to get it back, and it was completely gone, slowly came back, and most of the fight, I could at least see a little blur, which helped.
“It went from nothing, which made me go ‘oh s—, this ain’t good’, to a little blur. That got me a little better to understand the distance, and then it came back a little towards the end.
“I couldn’t tell you [which shot caused it].”
