Alexander Volkanovski walked into UFC 333 sick, and he seemed almost pleased about it.
Footage shared on X by Happy Punch on Monday shows the featherweight champion on fight day while dealing with a chest infection, shrugging the whole thing off with one line: “I’m sick, but the fight would be too easy if I felt too good anyway.”
That line lands a lot harder once you remember how the night actually went. On Oct. 24, Volkanovski finished Movsar Evloev in Round 2 to keep the 145-pound belt, a result Championship Rounds announced on X in all caps with an “AND STILL” for good measure. So the infection didn’t slow him down much. If anything, the clip makes the finish look a little meaner in hindsight.
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Volkanovski is 29-4 and sits at No. 1 in the Knockout Daily featherweight rankings. He is a two-time UFC featherweight champion and the first Australian-born fighter to win a UFC title. He also holds the record for most featherweight title wins in UFC history. He became the oldest man to win the featherweight title at 36, and the Evloev win made him the oldest to defend it, at 38. As of June, he was No. 2 in the UFC’s men’s pound-for-pound rankings.
The age came up a lot after the fight. ACD MMA posted that a 38-year-old Volkanovski was still collecting wins in 2026. Volkanovski and Petr Yan, who also won on the card, posed for a photo together afterward.
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What’s next
Volkanovski already has an idea for his exit, and it’s a big one. In comments posted by Championship Rounds the night of the event, he said he’d move up to face Justin Gaethje in a retirement fight.
“I don’t want to hold divisions up, but I believe we could do this and not hold the divisions up,” he said. “That’s something I’d retire for. If they want to give me that opportunity, win or lose I’d retire.”
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The UFC hasn’t announced anything, and no date has been set. Still, a man who just beat a top contender with a chest infection is in a good spot to make that request, and he made it without a single cough.
