LAS VEGAS – Perennial heavyweight contender Alexander Volkov is curious to see what else new UFC champ Jon Jones can do after returning to claim gold.
Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) returned from a more than three-year layoff this past weekend when he defeated Ciryl Gane by first-round submission in the UFC 285 main event. He added a second title to his legacy alongside his previously lengthy run at light heavyweight, and “Bones” now appears to have a stranglehold on his new weight class.
Volkov, who fought Gane in June 2021 and suffered a unanimous decision loss at UFC Fight Night 190, was in awe of Jones’ lopsided performance. However, the fact there was only enough fight time to see a sliver of Jones’ game left Volkov wondering what more he has to offer.
“I was very excited to see the fight – I thought it was a great fight,” Volkov told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 221 media day. “I thought Jon Jones was very good at using Ciryl Gane’s mistakes right away. You could see from the very beginning he capitalized on his mistakes, but really we haven’t seen too much from Jon Jones in this new division yet. Obviously, we see that he is very good at wrestling and instilling his gameplan and holding people down and mauling people, but we’d like to see him on his feet or maybe with somebody who is able to keep distance from his or somebody who is better at defending wrestling or is just a better wrestler down there who can give him some resistance down there.
“We’ll have to wait and see. It is very exciting to have him in this division. Obviously everyone is talking about it, so it really freshened up the division and got everybody excited, so I thought it was a really great fight and I can’t wait to see what happens next.”
Volkov (35-10 MMA, 9-4 UFC), who is coming off a first-round TKO win over Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC Fight Night 207 in June, returns to action Saturday when he meets Alexandr Romanov (16-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 221. The event takes place at The Theater at Virgin Hotels and streams on ESPN+.
The Russian has had his ups and downs in the octagon, but his only losses in nearly six years with the promotion have come against Gane, Tom Aspinall, Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis. He’s not calling for a fight with Jones right now, but a win over Romanov would put him in the running for another high-profile contender, which would then lead him to the title shot conversation.
“I don’t really pay attention much to who is where when it comes to rankings,” Volkov said. “The name’s not as important as, ‘What did you do to deserve the title shot?’ What I’m going to do is I’m going to make sure to show that whatever fights I’m in, I deserving of the next title shot. I think that’s something all the other heavyweights should be focused on. The position in the rankings, it’s not as important as what are you doing to be the next title contender? … We don’t know how many times a year or how often Jones is going to be fighting, but at least it’s shuffling the board. It’s making people move It’s making people understand there are moving particles, and I’m excited to see what it’s going to bring for me.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 221.