Alexander Volkanovski’s family advised him to retire after reclaiming his UFC featherweight title earlier this year.
Volkanovski (27-5 MMA, 14-4 UFC) returned from a 14-month layoff to defeat Diego Lopes for the vacant featherweight title at UFC 314 in April. Volkanovski was able to rebound from back-to-back knockout losses to Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria – the first losing skid of his career.
“Straight after the fight, my whole family was just like, ‘Why didn’t you just put the gloves down in the middle of the octagon straight away?’ They all wanted me to retire,” Volkanovski said in an interview with Demetrious Johnson. “They all wanted me to, but now that I’m making the decision to keep going, I’m not probably going to bring that back up purely because maybe they’re worried about affecting my frame of mind. Which I’m all right, they can say what they want, I’ll deal with that OK.
“I think maybe they’re just trying to be selective. But they made it clear that they all wanted me to stop straight after this fight, and I’m going to be real: A lot of people don’t want to talk about this, but I always was fighting for money, looking after my family. If I’m going to get punched in the face to do so, yeah, whatever, I’ll try not to. It’s never been about my actual legacy. Yeah, legacy that I leave behind is only going to help me build my empire for my family, and that’s all that matters for me. The legacy will come with that.”
Volkanovski has no plans of hanging up his gloves just yet. He awaits his next title challenger, who could be Yair Rodriguez or the winner of the UFC on ABC 9 co-main event between Movsar Evloev and Aaron Pico on July 26.
