In the main event of UFC Vegas 18, Alexander Volkov and Alistair Overeem trade heavy blows inside the APEX facility. In the middle of the second time, however, Volkov’s shots remained too much for Reem.
During the battle, Volkov cracked the Dutch with blows to the feet, including capital letters that were cut up and were behind his opponent’s hats. In the middle of the second round, the Russian managed to drop Overeem with a left hook, which forced the referee to step in and end the match.
In his post-fight press conference, ‘Drago’ spoke about the fight and how he achieved the victory.
“He hit me very hard, and he touched me with a few blows,” Volkov (ht MMA veg). “But I focused on my target and did what I wanted to do. The hard thing was that he blocked all my kicks. But he may not have thought of my blows, and I could land blows and bumps in his face. ”
Since starting his UFC tenure with four consecutive wins, the former Bellator heavyweight champion has been a bit inconsistent in the Octagon. His first UFC loss was to Derrick Lewis (by KO) at UFC 229 in 2018. After that, he beat Greg Hardy and then lost a decision to Curtis Blaydes.
In the battle before beating Overeem, Volkov again won a TKO victory over Walter Harris.
With the win, Volkov can expect him to jump Overeem in the heavyweight rankings to at least fifth place. In front of him are the two men who beat him in the UFC, as well as Jairzinho Rozenstruik, the title challenger Francis Ngannou and the champion Stipe Miocic.
Blaydes and Lewis were formed on February 20 and Rozenstruik will meet Ciryl Gane (the fighter directly below Volkov in the rankings) on February 27. Miocic vs. Ngannou 2 goes down on March 3rd.
On March 4, there should be a clear picture of the next title fight in the heavyweight division. Volkov probably needs another victory before he can put himself in the picture and that is exactly what he is hoping for.
He decided not to celebrate the victory over Overeem too much, Volkov said; “I want to be a champion. I will concentrate on the next camp [and] the next battle. ”