He has no one to blame but himself for the nickname, Alexander Volkanovski does. Old Man Volk starred in some of the best athlete spon-con in years. (Really, take a few moments and watch these, if you’ve never seen them before.)
But the geriatric bit hit a little too on-the-nose when, in his mid-30s, Volkanovski, one of the brightest stars in the UFC cosmos, started losing fights and, in turn, losing his featherweight belt. After going nearly a decade without an MMA defeat, he lost three fights within a year, and it looked like biology was continuing its assault.
But then a bit of time bending. Last Saturday in Miami at UFC 314, Volkanovski fired up one for the memory banks, putting on a sensational, relentless performance and (hard) won a convincing, workmanlike decision over 30-year-old Diego Lopes to reclaim the vacant featherweight title…and, at 36, re-established himself as force in not just the division, but the sport at large.
Before the old/new champion’s flight back to Australia, Volkanovski visited with Sports Illustrated.
This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Sports Illustrated: What is the key to aging gracefully in this sport?
Alexander Volkanovski: I think you need good balance. And when I say balance, you still need to train hard; you can't just expect to pull back and just focus on recovery and just feeling good. You are still gonna have to get through some of the hard rounds. But find a balance where you can properly recover through good sleep, nutrition and having the right people around you to make sure you’re getting the best recovery you can. But at the same time, trying to push yourself to the limit where you can find the best of both of those.
SI: How are you physically today?... After five rounds, what is the body like two days later?
AV: Sore. Face is sore. But that's just a part of it. It’s a part of the game. At least, I earned getting that belt. Obviously, I earned it through camp and training hard, but I had to earn it in the Octagon on Saturday night. It is still always a good feeling, even when you're in pain, you know it was worth it.
SI: How long did/will it take you to come down from the high of winning like that?
AV: Um, pretty much straight away. I came down from it pretty quickly, to be honest. Probably quicker than I'd like, I thought I would feel it so much more. But, at the same time, I don't think it was just winning the title. I think it was more proud and pleased with the messages I showed of overcoming adversity and people counting you out and you being able to push through that and still ending up on top. That feels good, you know. But the high of winning a title fight and all that, I got over that pretty quickly.
The more and more I have these conversations or conversations with people seeing how much it affected them, how much it, you know, inspired people—that just makes me feel real good. And I come down from winning, but I'll continue to have this longer feeling of being proud of what I was able to accomplish and, you know, and, and what it meant to people.
SI: Going into the fight, did you allow yourself to ponder “what happens if I don’t win?” (A cute way of asking: might this have been your last fight if it had gone the other way?)
AV: It’s weird. Your head is going to go in there with doubt and the fear of losing, but I didn’t let my head get ‘Are you done if you lose?’ It’s weird. It’s like I’ll doing anything to win; I’ll worry [if not] after. My head never got to If I lose I’m retiring. Which is weird. You’re going to have times when you doubt. What if you get knocked out? Blahblahblah. But I didn’t let myself get to ‘What are you going to do after a knockout loss.’ I just thought how I could stop myself from losing. That’s as far as it went.
SI: Going into the fight, did you allow yourself to ponder “what happens if I don’t win?” (A cute way of asking: might this have been your fight if it had gone the other way?)
AV: Now, it's weird. I didn't. Your head's gonna go there with doubts, and that may be the fear of losing, but I didn't let my head get to the point. It was like, I'll do anything to make sure I win. I'll worry about all that stuff later. If I was to lose and, you know, if I was ever gonna retire or whatever, stuff like that. I'll worry about that after. I never let my head go there. Which is weird. You know, you are gonna have times where you doubt yourself and like, Oh, what if you get knocked out, blah, blah, blah. But, I didn’t let myself think of what I am doing after a knockout loss. I just thought of how I can stop myself from losing. That's as far as it went.
SI: What should we know about your parents?
AV: Best way to say this is just very happy and thankful that they were able to raise a strong, independent young man in myself. They set such a good base for me. Look, I mean, my resilience, my independence, that comes through life experiences, how you're raised and things like that.
So setting a good base like that for a younger adult, giving them that base to build off, you know what I mean? Obviously, I learned so much more, and I can add so many other stronger tools to that to get even stronger. But to actually have that at a young age, I'm very, very thankful because I would not be the champion I am if I didn't have the resilience, the drive to be better, to challenge myself. A lot of people would usually shy away from a challenge, I've just never done that and I have my family to thank for that.
SI: Your opponent had a tearful, poignant story that went viral before the fight….to what extent are you aware of things like this? As a human being, how do you process compassion for an opponent? Is there even space for that?
AV: Yeah, hearing opponent stories, knowing their adversities, their own journey, it can get hard. But at the same time, you don't let it get to you 'cause you are going through your own journey. And knowing that even though my win will put a halt in their or pause on this, you've gotta understand that you've got your own family and people you care about. That obviously means so much more to you. You are a very caring person, but we obviously care about our family more and the messages we want to show our kids and the younger generation or the people around us, or the world anyway, really.
I know it might sound selfish, but when it comes to family, I guess, you need to be selfish, you know? And the beauty of the sport, even if you take someone's title away from 'em, they always have a chance to bounce back. And that was a big part of my journey.
You know, I said, this is the biggest story, the biggest point of my career right now is winning that belt back, getting through that adversity and ending up on top. And now they're got their opportunity to—or privilege, as I said, you know, adversity is a privilege. So this adversity that they're going through, they can bounce back for and even create their legacy moment, you know? So it can be tough 'cause we do care, but at the same time, you can't let it get to you.
SI: How did you enjoy Miami Sunday and Monday?
AV: I just took it easy. I obviously have a few bumps and bruises, a bit of pain, so I just gotta look after the body and I guess try and eat. I got stitches in the mouth, so I didn't get to enjoy either food like I wanted to—especially after 16 weeks of no cheap meals, no alcohol. That just needs to wait a little bit longer.
Obviously, I can still eat, but I can't go too crazy with that. It’s good to be able to chat to everyone, see everyone's loving messages. And again, that's so much more than me just bringing the belt back home. Honestly, seeing what it's done for everyone back home, how much it's inspired them. It just means so much to me and it's been incredible. So that's been the best part about it. Just being able to see everyone enjoy my journey; it's my journey. I feel like everyone else is getting so much out of this part of my story as well, which just means a lot to me.
SI: What’s the best dish you’ve cooked lately?
AV: Alright, one that comes to the top of my head, obviously, I do a bit of Cooking with Volk, so we've done some incredible things. I did a cheesesteak and man, it was good. The perfect bread we got for it. The perfect cheese, the perfect meat, the way we cooked it. Everything about it. We cooked it outside on the fire as well.
SI: What’s your hack for jet lag?
AV: Holding out, you know, finding the best times to sleep on the plane. Knowing that if you are gonna rock up in the morning in a country, get whatever sleep you can on the plane, and then just ride out till nighttime, even if you don't get sleep. It's a big flight. Maybe get a couple hours of sleep early. Especially if you've got a fight, I do whatever it takes to try and get into that time zone. So if that means not sleeping the whole flight, just so I can sleep as soon as I get there 'cause I know I'll be very tired. You’ve gotta commit to these things. Even if you are up for hours, it's just gotta be done. If you want to try and get used to that time zone.
SI: It’s a cliché question, but it’s necessary: what’s next?
AV: Next is.. make sure everything's good. Make sure the body's all good; we've obviously got a few bumps and bruises that we need to get checked. But if that's all good, let's get back in there. Who is it? Let's talk to UFC and find out. But, I promised the world that I will be that active defending champion, and I'm a man of my word, so I'll try and get in there as quickly as possible, hopefully in Australia if we could do that. If not, we'll make something happen ASAP.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as UFC Champion Alexander Volkanovski Q&A: Title Redemption, Lessons from Pain and Fighting Father Time.