Alexander Volkanovski is taking shots at UFC fighter pay, and he’s doing it with a punchline. The featherweight champion released a comedy sketch this week lampooning the compensation debate, a clip Bloody Elbow posted on X Thursday as his latest skit mocking UFC pay ahead of his return at UFC 333.
The timing makes it better. Volkanovski is in camp for a title defense against Movsar Evloev, and instead of a moody training montage set to sad piano, he went with a parody built on the money talk fighters usually leave to their managers. MMA Fighting’s Morning Report ran the video in its roundup Wednesday, billing it as Volkanovski with “a couple good gags.”
He leaned into the bit on his own feed, too. When Australian bookmaker Sportsbet posted a clip under the line “Alexander Volkanovski is a Movie Star,” Volkanovski quote-tweeted it with three laughing-sweat emojis and nothing else. For once, a fighter’s emoji-only post didn’t announce a fight. I’ll allow it.
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The champ, the camp and the next thing
The skit lands in a week when Volkanovski has been unusually candid about where he is physically. In comments shared on X by Dovy, he admitted he has eased off a bit in training as he gets older.
“I can’t do what I was doing 5, 6 years ago. I probably could, but, um, it’s, you know, it’s going to be more detrimental,” he said, adding that the fight simulators and hard sessions are still on the schedule as long as the output and intensity hold up.
Then he went bigger. On the WhoTheFook podcast, as clipped by Championship Rounds, Volkanovski pitched a superfight with lightweight champion Justin Gaethje.
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“Let’s do a superfight, lightweight title on the line and then we can both [retire]. Then, straight after that, let the division sort themselves out. Let’s make that happen.”
There’s a wrinkle. MMA Fighting reported this week that Gaethje will not defend his belt in 2026, with a chance he retires without defending it at all. That leaves 155 in a holding pattern, and plenty of people want in. Diego Lopes, who has shared the cage with both Volkanovski and Evloev, is moving up to face Charles Oliveira for the BMF belt at UFC 335 on Dec. 12 and told MMA Fighting he’d love a Gaethje fight if he wins.
UFC 333 is a busy card. MMA Fighting’s video roundup also featured Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili preparing for the event, so Volkanovski won’t be the only champion-level name doing media that week.
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Quick take
A champion cracking jokes about pay in the middle of camp is my kind of fighter. He says he trains a little less than he used to, he says out loud that he wants one more big payday at lightweight before riding off, and he makes fun of the money conversation instead of pretending it doesn’t exist. Straight answers, plus a laugh. The only problem is that Evloev doesn’t do comedy. He does takedowns, and if Volkanovski wants the Gaethje superfight he just pitched, he has to get through UFC 333 first.
