Renato Moicano likes the way Alexander Volkanovski has carried himself ahead of UFC 298.
Featherweight champion Volkanovski (26-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) takes on Ilia Topuria (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in Saturday’s main event (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Despite Volkanovski being a five-time defending champion, he’s only a slight favorite against undefeated Topuria. Moicano thinks Volkanovski’s knockout loss to lightweight champion Makhachev at UFC 294 played a factor in those odds, but likes the champion’s headspace going into this fight.
“Topuria’s good, great boxer, but Volkanovski is on another level,” Moicano said on his YouTube channel. “I do think Volkanovski is going to put on a masterclass against Topuria. I think he will dominate the fight. It could be a hard fight – this is an MMA fight, motherf*cker. Everything can happen.
“And I like the way Volkanovski was talking about that: ‘It’s a fight. Everything can happen. He can get me with a big punch. But other than that, I’m not going to be a target for him – I will move.’ And we’re going to see point by point. I think a lot of people are discrediting Volkanovski because of his last fight.”
Moicano referenced Volkanovski’s pre-fight interview with The MacLife to draw confidence in his pick. He likes that Volkanovski isn’t underestimating Topuria.
“Volkanovski is better in every other area except boxing,” Moicano said. “I think Topuria is better at boxing, maybe has more punching power. But as a martial artist, Volkanovski is way better than him. At least what he’s saying, he knows that. He knows that (Topuria) could drop him with one punch, so that means Volkanovski is aware of Topuria’s power and he’s not going to play any games trying to outbox Topuria.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.
