Alexander Volkanovski paints hair-raising picture of how Islam Makhachev fight will go down

Alexander Volkanovski recently challenged suggestions that say he is too small to overcome Islam Makhachev at UFC 284 while outlining his key to winning the lightweight title.

Makhachev dominantly defeated Charles Oliveira via second-round submission at UFC 280 to win the vacant UFC lightweight title. He will be looking to defend his championship for the first time against the reigning featherweight champion and P4P king in Australia next week.

In a recent video by MainEvent, the 34-year-old described his journey while preparing for his fight against the Dagestani grappling maestro after they shook hands in the octagon at UFC 280. While many favor Makhachev to emerge victorious, Alexander Volkanovski believes he has what it takes to face the challenge:

"I've always been undersized with everything I did. It's going to be a hard challenge, but I guarantee you I can do it... In my head, I need to prepare as if we're going down. I need people to put me in the worst possible position I can [get to] and I'll fight from there... Even if he gets me in a bad position, you'll probably see a smile on my face."

Watch a clip from the video below:

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Michael Bisping outlines what Alexander Volkanovski would find "tricky" to train for against Islam Makhachev

Michael Bisping recently shared his opinion on the upcoming lightweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev. 'The Count' also emphasized the one quality of the Dagestani that 'The Great' will find hard to prepare for.

Bisping seemed to agree with the consensus and commented on the much-awaited title fight in a recently uploaded YouTube video. He iterated that while their physical differences might have some bearing on the fight, what would be more important is Makhachev's ground and pound prowess.

Sharing his thoughts on where 'The Great' should focus more on his upcoming title fight, Bisping stated:

"He is training hard, he's starting in bad positions and he knows he's going to get taken down... But ground and pound makes all the difference... In the gym, Volkanovski is having people hit him, right? But he's not having people trying to knock him out and he's not having people dropping massive nasty elbows to the face and to the head... So that's going to be the real tricky part for Volkanovski."

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Alexander Volkanovski enters UFC 284 on a remarkable 22-fight win streak. Meanwhile, Islam Makhachev, a childhood friend of coach and former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, is riding an 11-fight win streak.