Despite a dominant win at UFC 325, UFC featherweight titleholder Alexander Volkanovski fought at significantly less than 100 percent.<\/p>\n
For the second time in 10 months, Alexander Volkanovski outpointed Diego Lopes by unanimous decision<\/a> as he defeated the top contender in their UFC 325 rematch last weekend. Volkanovski put on a signature performance against Lopes, stifling Lopes\u2019 grappling and landing some devastating shots with his striking.<\/p>\n It was a return to greatness for Volkanovski after breaking his first UFC losing skid last year against Lopes at UFC 314. Now, the UFC featherweight GOAT contender is eying other big fights for the remainder of his UFC tenure.<\/p>\n But Volkanovski\u2019s latest historic chapter nearly didn\u2019t come to fruition after the featherweight champ suffered a massive ailment weeks before UFC 325. Despite the ailment, Volkanovski was able to do seemingly whatever he wanted against the dangerous Lopes in the Octagon.<\/p>\n Alexander Volkanovski nearly pulled out of UFC 325 due to serious injury in camp<\/p>\n In a post-fight interview backstage with Daniel Cormier<\/a>, Volkanovski\u2019s longtime coach Joe Lopez shared a surprising detail about the featherweight champ\u2019s prep for UFC 325.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cTo be fair, Alex, four weeks ago, we didn\u2019t think he was going to fight,\u201d Lopez said of Volkanovski.<\/p>\n \u201cHe pulled his shoulder out, really. He\u2019s been compromised for the last four weeks with a busted shoulder.\u201d (h\/t Bloody Elbow<\/a>)<\/p>\n Despite Volkanovski\u2019s recent ailments and Father Time being undefeated, Lopez doesn\u2019t see the champ hanging up the gloves anytime soon.<\/p>\n \u201cVolk was sort of second-guessing himself the whole of the first Diego camp,\u201d\u00a0 Lopez admitted about Volkanovski.<\/p>\n \u201cWith this camp, Volk was back to himself. He was confident, didn\u2019t have to say anything. He was just old Volk back again. Maybe we can get another four [fights] out of him.\u201d<\/p>\n