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Alexander Volkanovski recently left ESPN journalist Laura Sanko in stitches. He said he shaved his head to be able to pop out of a guillotine choke during his fight with Brian Ortega. In an interview following his battle with Ortega, Volkanovski was asked whether shaving his head was sort of a pre-fight ritual for him.
In response, Alexander Volkanovski stated that there are two reasons why he chose to go bald ahead of his fight with Ortega. The first reason was the ongoing lockdown in Australia due to which the champ had been unable to get a haircut in a while. Secondly, Volkanovski hilariously claimed that he wanted his head to be slippery so he could slip out of a guillotine choke during the fight:
"I'll just say that, yeah yeah. So there was just the lockdown to be honest, I regularly get haircuts and I couldn't so it was on my mind like you know, is it time to do it yet? You're right, [I thought] I'm gonna have it nice and shiny, slippery on the day but you know I am pretty hard to get into a guillotine anyway but if we do get there, we're already prepared to pop it out and then punch his head to the canvas," Alexander Volkanovski said.
Volkanovski and Ortega went to war at UFC 266. The pair went the distance in a back-and-forth contest which Volkanovski won via unanimous decision.
Brian Ortega put a guillotine choke on Alexander Volkanovski during the fight. According to Volkanovski, the choke was deep and he almost thought he'd lose the title. However, he spectacularly escaped the spot and managed to gain top mount over Ortega, landing nasty ground-and-pound strikes thereafter.
Alexander Volkanovski admits being in trouble when Brian Ortega caught him in a guillotine choke at UFC 266
“It was deep … it was ‘f***, I’m about to lose the belt’ deep. But the type of human being I am, you talk about me going through adversity and always being prepared, busting my ass, never giving up attitude, that’s what you’re seeing," Volkanovski said at the post-fight press conference.
