Volk riles up UFC title challenger in wild press conference

Alexander Volkanovski has riled up UFC rival Ilia Topuria ahead of their featherweight title showdown, claiming he will “make it look easy” against his fresh challenger.

The 35-year-old has been tormented about his age by the Spanish rising star in the months leading up to the fight, but the Australian brushed it off in trademark style by dressing up as a senior citizen for recent Sportsbet social media skits.

Volkanovski took it one step further at the UFC 298 press conference however, continuing the performance in an attempt to get under Topuria’s skin – and it clearly worked wonders given the way the 27-year-old reacted on stage.

Dressed in his ‘old man’ attire and pretending to fall asleep, Volkanovski brought out a nasty side of Topuria, who was copping some grief from the fans in Los Angeles and bit back at them with some expletives.

“Shut the f—k up,” Topuria said repeatedly as the crowd booed him.

“After this Saturday night, I’m going to change the whole game of mixed martial arts.

“I’m going to end this world and mine’s gonna start, and you all will become an instant fan, so shut the f–k up right now.”

Things would soon escalate as Volkanovski began to egg Topuria on after the top-ranked contender peppered him with more ‘retirement’ and ‘old man’ insults, before claiming that he would ‘humble’ the reigning champion.

“I think this old man needs to teach this young fella a lesson,” the Aussie replied.

“He’ll get a good spanking, that’s what’s gonna happen.

“There’s gonna be some doubt, he’s obviously showing a lot of confidence. [He] thinks he’s the man to do it, I’m gonna show him that he’s not. He doesn’t stand a chance.

“Saturday night I’m gonna look mean and lean … I’m gonna make this look easy.”

The pair almost came to blows at one stage, before being separated ahead of the highly-anticipated title fight at the Honda Center.

We've seen this move before 👀@TopuriaIlia taking a page from Conor McGregor ahead of #UFC298 pic.twitter.com/bMdP3ehIV4

— UFC (@ufc) February 16, 2024

Volkanovski (29-3) hasn’t lost at featherweight since joining the UFC, with his only losses with the promotion coming when he made the jump to lightweight, falling on two-straight occasions against Islam Makhachev.

However, the threat of the undefeated Topuria (14-0) – who the champ branded a “Conor McGregor wannabe” after he snatched the title during the press conference – is clearly one of the biggest tests of Volkanovski’s run with the belt.

Australia’s Robert Whittaker will also compete on Sunday’s (AEDT) card in a middleweight showdown against Paulo Costa, while former two-division champion Henry Cejudo will square off with Merab Dvalishvili in a bantamweight bout.