Ahead of his UFC 290 title unification headliner with interim gold holder, Yair Rodríguez this weekend, fellow featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski has vowed to implement a taekwondo-heavy style to outstrike the dynamic kicker.
Volkanovski, who will attempt to land the fifth successful defense of his featherweight title reign as he takes on Mexican challenger, Rodríguez this weekend, will also look to return to the winner’s enclosure for the first time since his UFC tenure began.
Headlining his native Australia back in February, Volkanovski suffered a close, unanimous decision loss to lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev in an unsuccesful pursuit of two-division champion status in Perth.
Alexander Volkanovski envisions outstriking Yair Rodríguez at UFC 290 this weekend
And drawing Rodríguez this weekend in ‘Sin City’ – Volkanovski, who is largely closing as a favorite to defeat the Chihuahua striker, has laid out plans to defeat the former at his own striking game.
“Everyone knows that I love to take people out at their own game as well,” Alexander Volkanovski told NBC Sports. “I like really challenging people and showing people how wide my skillset is, how well-rounded I really am. The Taekwondo challenge excites me.”
“I can’t wait to throw some spinning heel kicks, and ‘Taekwondo Volk’s’ gonna come for Yair (Rodríguez), you know, really beat him at his own game,” Alexander Volkanovski continued. (H/T MMA News)
In prior successful title defenses, Volkanovski has landed a pair of rematch and subsequent title trilogy bout wins over common-foe, Max Holloway – as well as stopping common-foe, Chan Sung Jung, and taking a unanimous decision victory over another common-opponent, Brian Ortega during his time as undisputed featherweight kingpin.
En route to his interim featherweight title over Josh Emmett at UFC 284 back in February to boot, The Ultimate Fighter victor, Rodriguez landed a first round TKO win over Ortega, who suffered a shoulder injury following a submission attempt from the former.