Alexander Volkanovski recognises he was "gloating too much" by talking to Islam Makhachev's corner during their UFC title fight.
Makhachev spoiled Volkanovski's hopes of becoming a double-champ as the Russian defended his lightweight belt by unanimous decision this past weekend in Perth, Australia. Featherweight titleholder Volkanovski was moving up to lightweight for the first time in his UFC career and was unbeaten in 22 fights heading into the fight.
Volkanovski was gaining confidence as the fight went on and started to speak with Makhachev's corner in the fourth round, but paid the price for losing focus as the champion took him down and controlled him for the rest of the round. Volkanovski reflected on the mistake he made and admitted he was being "silly" by winding up Makhachev's team.
"Yeah, I was being cheeky. So, he was just going there, and I'm just looking at his corner. I'm like talking to Makhachev's corner, then he's just like, just jumping and got the hooks in. I even laughed, as in, you know, that was silly. You're just gloating too much," Volkanovski said on The MMA Hour.
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"I'll do that type of stuff to get in the head and all that, but that got him that position. On my end, that was a little mistake by me. I could've bounced up and put it on him because, obviously, he was very tired at that stage. That's why he just wanted to hold on."
Volkanovski scored the fight in his favour and had the Australian not lost focus in the fourth round, the outcome of the title fight could have been very different. The featherweight champion revealed what he was telling Makhachev at the end of the fourth round whilst the Russian held him in a body triangle hold.
"I was obviously trying to hype up the crowd but he was saying [before] that I would be crumbling going to sleep," Volkanovski added. "So I was saying to him 'You said you'll finish me! Is this all you've got? You're just trying to survive, you're just hanging on for dear life! Come on you little b****'. He was kind of saying stuff back, but he was trying to get his breath back and hang on.
"I can see him crumbling but at the same time I'm in a bad position. I was trying to get in his head, rile up the crowd and just have a bit of fun with it. For me straight after the fight, I wanted to do the five rounds again. I started realising, especially towards the end, that he didn't really have much for me."
