Alexander Volkov, the No. 2-ranked heavyweight in the UFC, is facing heat online after a video clip of him saying the N-word started circulating on social media. The X account @DovySimuMMA posted the clip with a blunt caption: “Alex Volkov joins the list of white fighters dropping the N-word.” The post closed with “I wonder who’s next?”
The available reporting doesn’t say where or when the video was recorded, or what was happening around the remark. None of the material available to us includes a statement from Volkov or the UFC.
The timing is rough. The post went up at 00:14 GMT on Saturday, Nov. 7, which was Friday evening in Las Vegas, hours before UFC Vegas 124 at Meta APEX. That card’s main event has a direct Volkov connection. Johnny Walker told MMA Fighting this week that he’s been training alongside Volkov in Las Vegas as part of a group he described as his dream team, and that the Russian heavyweight will likely be in his corner Saturday night.
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Walker (23-10, 1 NC) is No. 12 at heavyweight. He took the fight with Waldo Cortes-Acosta on eight days’ notice after Sean Brady vs. Gabriel Bonfim fell apart, and he’s riding the flying knee that put away Mick Parkin at UFC 332 in October. Walker is a +190 underdog per MMA Mania’s preview, with Cortes-Acosta (17-4) at -230.
Volkov has already solved the guy his teammate is facing. He beat Cortes-Acosta by decision earlier this year, a fight MMA Mania characterized as Volkov outclassing him. Cortes-Acosta then dropped a second straight decision to Curtis Blaydes, so he walks into this five-rounder on a two-fight skid, with both losses coming against top-10 names. If Walker wins, a fair chunk of that game plan probably traces back to the guy in the clip.
The broader heavyweight picture is crowded. Ciryl Gane defends the title against Josh Hokit at UFC 334 on Nov. 14, and Walker pointed to Alex Pereira, Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall as names already in the title conversation. Volkov, ranked second, has no announced fight in the reporting available to us.
My take: I don’t need the full backstory of the video to know that word coming out of a top-two heavyweight’s mouth is a problem he has to answer for himself, in his own words, soon. And if he’s standing in Walker’s corner Saturday, the broadcast cameras will find him between rounds of a main event that has nothing to do with him. Walker earned that spotlight on eight days’ notice. He deserves to have the post-fight questions be about Cortes-Acosta.
