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Alexander Volkanovski may be the official backup plan for the Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar featherweight title fight this weekend at UFC 240, but he wasn’t given much time to prepare for the role.
According to the streaking Australian contender, he didn’t know he was locked in as a potential filler for Holloway-Edgar until just a few weeks ago. Luckily, Volkanovski still had enough time to get his body in shape for a hard weight cut.
“It wasn’t official until a few weeks ago,” Volkanovski said after weighing in earlier today (via TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter). “The UFC said ‘look, we’ve learned our lesson, we want you to officially make weight.’ They’re obviously paying me and stuff like that.’
“I want [Holloway and Edgar] to fight,” he continued. “I’m not here hoping that they get injured. Let them fight, I’ll get my paycheck and fight them later in the year.”
Volkanovski, who has won all seven of his UFC bouts since entering the promotion back in 2016, had a pretty rough time getting to the UFC 240 weigh ins to begin with. From multiple flights to cross-border commute, Volkanovski had to endure quite the journey to ready himself for a potential title shot.
“The travel was pretty crazy,” he said. “It was 37-plus hours in terms of travel just to get here, and I had to drive through the border [into Canada].
“I went from New Zealand to Sydney, Sydney to San Francisco, drove from Seattle to Vancouver — did the visa through the border that way — then flew from Vancouver to Edmonton,” he added. “It was like 38 hours or something like that. It was crazy. That rattled me all week.”
Despite the dreadful travel, Volkanovski is still ready to step in and compete tomorrow night at UFC 240. Both Holloway and Edgar made weight for their main event title fight, but so many events have fallen apart the day of, which leaves “The Great” with some hope.
“It left me pretty heavy all week, to be honest,” Volkanovski said. “I had to do a pretty big weight cut. In saying that, we got it done. I’m a professional guy. I’m going to make weight either way, and I feel good now, so all good.”
UFC 240 will go down tomorrow night (Sat., July 27, 2019) live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. As of now, Volkanovski will not be called upon to step in for the title fight.
Check out the complete UFC 240 fight card here.