UFC featherweight Alex Volkanovski (16-1) is on a roll. At last year’s UFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Tybura, in Sydney, he beat Shane Young for his third UFC victory in a row. This took his overall winning streak to 13, which stretches back to 2013 and his only loss in pro MMA (while competing at welterweight).
At this weekend’s UFC 221 in Perth, the Australian ground-and-pound artist hopes to keep the streak alive. Looking to stop him is Jeremy Kennedy, who is on a streak of his own; 11 pro wins, 0 losses.
This is the second time Volkanovski and Kennedy have been matched-up. They were supposed to fight on the Werdum vs. Tybura card last November, but Kennedy pulled out due to injury. Volkanovski was then matched with Humberto Bandenay, who also got injured, and Drex Zamboanga, who couldn’t get a visa.
Eventually Shane Young, a Kiwi from the regional scene, was given the opportunity to fight Volkanovski on a few days notice.
When asked by Bloody Elbow whether he was glad to be matched-up with Kennedy again, Volkanovski couldn’t hide his disappointment. “[The] UFC wanted to make that happen,” he said. “We’re both 3-0 in the UFC. It makes sense. [It’s] something that he definitely wanted. Jeremy definitely wanted that fight again. But I was looking at it like, you got injured, unluckily for you, sorry to hear about that, but I’m ready to be moving forward. That’s sort of how I looked at it, but Sean Shelby really wanted that fight and, at the end of the day, you have to keep [the UFC] happy.”
“I think the winner of this will get a ranked opponent,” continued Volkanovski. “I want these ranked opponents. So if taking him out will take me high up these ranks, let’s do it.”
With two training camps worth of preparation for Kennedy, Volkanovski feels he has a good — and favorable — read on the Canadian.
“He’s a very tough fight for a lot of fighters, but I just believe I’m a bad matchup for him,” stated Volkanovski. “He’s a grinder. Once he grabs a hold he’ll grind you down, and when you try and get up, he’ll grind you back down … That’s a bad match-up for strikers and fighters with explosive pace, you just grind them down and take them out. But that’s sort of my style as well. Only I believe I have knockout power and I’ve got a lot more tools. I’m usually really really fit as well, so for him to try and grind me out; it’s going to be very hard.”
Volkanovski added that he thinks Kennedy is a ‘hesitant’ striker who lacks confidence on the feet. The 29-year-old said that the difference between their striking would be highly noticeable come Saturday night.
“I still believe I’m going to be better than him on the ground, but I know I’ll be better on the feet,” he said. “I’m going to be showcasing all my skills and I’ll definitely be a lot more comfortable in the striking, knowing that I’m more than happy to be there.”
Volkanovski said he would be “definitely be looking for a finish in this fight.” If he does so, it will be his second stoppage in the UFC. His last three fights in the promotion were extremely lopsided decisions, in which he dominated but failed to put his opponent away.
Last time out, Volkanovski enjoyed over eight minutes of control versus Shane Young’s 17 seconds (according to UFC.com). Though he’s happy for the decisive win, Volkanovski admitted he’s a little disappointed that he did not finish the debutante.
Candidly, Volkanovski revealed that the constant change of opponents leading up to the Young bout may have played a bigger role than he expected. Along with changes of opponent, Volkanovski also had to contend with injuries during the build-up to fight camp.
“Leading up to that fight, I actually had a couple of injuries myself. I didn’t tell anyone about that. I had bad back injuries; two bulging discs and a broken fragment off a disc, all in my sciatic nerve. I was injured for about ten weeks or plus. This was about, maybe sixteen weeks out, so it gave me about six weeks to prepare for the fight … Six weeks is usually enough, just the fact that I did next to nothing for 10 to 12 weeks before that, I think that definitely played a factor. I just didn’t feel as strong as I usually am … I just didn’t feel me to be quite honest.”
Not feeling himself versus Young meant not taking more risks in pursuit of a finish. But the Aussie is promising not to do that this time around. And he’s confident of being able to catch the undefeated Kennedy on the feet.
“It’s going to be a high level fight,” said Volkanovski. “There’s definitely going to be some really good scrambles and there’s going to be some big shots. I’ll be getting up and I’ll be looking to strike. And when I strike — I don’t throw lightly. I like to throw bombs. So you’re going to be seeing some heavy punches, that’s for sure, and some good scrambles. It’s going to be a very very high class fight.”
Alex Volkanovski vs. Jeremy Kennedy takes place on the prelims of UFC 221 this Saturday night. You can watch the action, live from Perth, Australia, on FS1 beginning at 8PM ET.