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Alexander Volkov addressed reporters at a press conference following his unanimous decision victory over Waldo Cortes-Acosta on Saturday in Newark, New Jersey. The Russian fighter bested Cortes-Acosta on the main card of the event held at the Prudential Center. With this win, the 37-year-old Volkov (40-11 MMA, 14-5 UFC) secured his second consecutive success, once again positioning himself among the title contenders.
Volkov shared that he had to be extremely cautious against Cortes-Acosta, as he hasn't forgotten his loss to Derrick Lewis, where he was ahead on the judges' scorecards but was knocked out in the final seconds. It seems no one else lets him forget that moment either.
"Maybe it wasn't as impressive, but Waldo is a tough son of a gun," Volkov stated at the post-fight press conference. "Nobody can finish him. I dropped him in the second round, but he was very precise with his strikes. I learned my lesson in 2018 when Derrick Lewis did the same thing and caught me at the very end of the fight. Everyone reminds me of it again and again, every time they see me. So I know that lesson very well. With these tough guys who can land knockout punches at any minute of the fight, it's better to be very precise and just inflict a lot of damage."
Lewis is one of only two fighters to have defeated Volkov by knockout, and the Russian admitted that this memory resurfaced during the fight.
"Every time I have flashbacks," he said. "I just tell myself: 'Be focused, be precise until the end – move, don't relax, don't think you can beat him.'"
While Volkov is once again in the heavyweight title picture, he's unsure how he feels about it. Next month, an interim champion will be crowned in the bout between Ciryl Gane and former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. If Pereira wins, he will make history as the first UFC fighter with titles in three different divisions. But regardless of the winner, champion Tom Aspinall is already waiting for them.
This means a unification bout could be far in the future, and if Volkov decides to wait, he will surely miss key fight opportunities in the later stages of his career. As it turns out, however, he admitted that he is actually afraid of talks about a championship fight.
"Honestly, I'm so scared to fight for the title," Volkov said. "(Cortes-Acosta) is so big, so huge, so talented. Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing here in the top two. It's so hard to be there... Today I was in my room. I didn't want to go out. I hid in the closet, and the coach couldn't find me. I almost missed the bus to the arena. So I don't know what I'll do when I fight for a title. I don't know why I'm telling you this. I was so brave after the win, but now I've calmed down a bit. I don't know why I did it."
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