UFC 298: Ex-Champion Joins Alexander Volkanovski Camp for Ilia Topuria Fight

"I wanna see him in his house on the home stretch."

Alexander Volkanovski received some help from one of the UFC’s biggest stars during the final lead up to his fight with Ilia Topuria at UFC 298.

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“The Great” is coming off his second loss to lightweight king Islam Makhachev, but Volkanovski is unbeaten as a featherweight and already defended that division’s title on five occasions.

Now tasked with handing Topuria the first loss of his career, the Australian recently spent some time in camp with two-time UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

Adesanya is one of the biggest stars on the UFC roster :: Rich Storry/USA TODAY Sports)

“I was meant to stay for a week, but I’m gonna just stay to just see Volk in the last – the home stretch,” Adesanya said on Volkanovski’s YouTube channel. "I wanna see him in his house on the home stretch. See where his mindset’s at, see how sharp he is and draw energy from it. That’s why I’m here.”

“The Last Stylebender” also defended the UFC middleweight title five times during his initial run as champion, but after reclaiming the belt from Alex Pereira last April the 34-year-old most recently suffered an upset loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293.

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Adesanya’s claim that he’s looking to “draw energy” from Volkanovski certainly seems to imply he’s thinking about getting back into action, and the former champion also went on to dismiss doubters that think “The Great” will lose his title to Topuria.

Volkanovski was knocked out in the first round of his last fight :: (Giuseppe Cacace/AFP)

“[He’s looking] sharp...He's on. I like what he said in one of the lead ups. He said, ‘How quickly they forget.' And I know that feeling, how quickly they forget…This is what we come through. It’s time to remind them, so he’s about to do that in Anaheim.

Much of the talk around Volkanovski’s chances at UFC 298 has centered around his knockout loss to Makhachev at UFC 294, but the Australian did accept that fight on short notice and recently admitted that he wasn’t exactly operating at his best before stepping into the cage. 

Topuria will also be under considerable pressure to back up his trash talk at UFC 298, and “El Matador” has seemingly already dismissed the idea of fighting the current crop of top featherweights if he does claim UFC gold on February 17.

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