Alexander Volkov spent 15 minutes on Saturday hitting Rizvan Kuniev from a range Kuniev never figured out, and left the UFC 333 main card with a unanimous decision on his birthday. The judges scored it 29-28, 30-27, 30-27.
Then he went right back to the reason he’d been loitering around fight week in the first place.
“What should I do to take a title shot? Answer me please,” Volkov said after the fight, aiming the question squarely at Dana White.
That was his second try. Earlier in the week Volkov crashed the UFC 333 press conference and put the same question to White directly. As Cageside Press told it, White either played along with the bit or genuinely didn’t clock who the towering “Drago” was until Alexander Volkanovski tipped him off. Hard to lose track of a heavyweight that size, but fight week does strange things to people.
How it played out
This was an all-Russian heavyweight matchup, and the problem for Kuniev showed up early. Kuniev actually weighed in heavier, but he was the shorter man and spent the night trying to get inside on a guy who kept stuffing him with jabs and kicks. Volkov landed a body kick in the opening minute, beat one of Kuniev’s kicks with a jab, and caught another kick outright. When Kuniev did crash forward and put him under fire, Volkov fired back with a volley that pushed him out again. Kuniev got a short breather late in Round 1 after a low blow that landed while he was lifting his own leg to kick.
Round 2 was Kuniev’s best stretch. He landed overhands and a superman punch that Volkov ate clean, plus a lunging attack shortly after. Volkov still had the bigger share of it. He took control in the clinch, snapped Kuniev’s head back just past the one-minute mark, chopped at the legs and kept the pressure on late.
Kuniev came out fast in Round 3 and landed a back fist up close, but Volkov’s calf kicks were doing damage. Kuniev started switching stances to protect the leg, and his movement slowed. With a little over a minute left, Volkov switched gears entirely, took the back, dragged Kuniev to the mat, sank both hooks and hunted a rear-naked choke. He never fully locked it, but the attempts closed out the round.
Where Volkov stands
Volkov has now been in the UFC for 10 years. Cageside Press noted he has as many fights as just about any active heavyweight and sits second all time in significant strikes in the division, behind only Andrei Arlovski. Before all that he held the Bellator heavyweight title.
No next fight was announced, and the sources don’t include any answer from White to either of Volkov’s pitches.
My take: I like a heavyweight who skips the hype video routine and simply asks the boss, twice, in public. A clean decision over a UFC newcomer won’t jump anybody to the front of the line alone, and Volkov knows that, which is probably why he’s working the room as hard as he worked Kuniev’s lead leg. He’s 10 years deep and second only to Arlovski in strikes landed at heavyweight. Somebody at the UFC owes him an answer.
