When the UFC’s voice of the octagon bellows the words “from Shellharbour, NSW, Australia,” Alex Volkanovski still gets goosebumps.
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He might be on the biggest stage in US, but he knows people in the pubs and clubs of the Illawarra are going wild.
It’s support he’s always banked on, evidenced by claiming his second Illawarra Mercury’s People’s Choice Sportsperson of the Year.
“It’s unreal. The support's always great back home,” Volkanovski said.
“I love seeing it up on the screen fighting out of Windang or Shellharbour, or Wollongong. It gives me a bit of a smile because I know everyone back home is cheering.”
Those pubs and clubs are sure to be packed again on Sunday afternoon when he takes on Chad Mendes in Los Angeles, but his supporter base stretches far beyond the Illawarra these days.
“The people who weren’t supporting me will be after this fight that’s for sure, whether it’s back home or around the world,” he said.
“Knocking out Chad Mendes on a card like this, everyone’s going to throw my name up for a title fight. I guarantee it.
“People are really going to realise ‘we’re not supporting him just because he’s a local, we’re supporting him because he’s the champion, he’s the best’.”
Volkanovski will enter an elite club if he can knock off Mendes, with the only four losses on the Californian’s record coming at the hands of UFC champions and future hall-of-famers.
He’s twice fallen to Brazilian Jose Aldo, the second bout one of the best in featherweight history, while he’s also been stopped by Conor McGregor and long-time lightweight king Frankie Edgar.
It presents a step-up for Volkanovski, who’s been largely untested in his previous five UFC outings, but the 30-year-old remains full of confidence ahead of the bout.
“You always prepare for the worst but don’t be surprised if I go out there and make it look easy again,” he said.
“It doesn’t make him any worse than all my opponents if I knock him out early, it’s just purely styles make fights and I believe I’m going to catch him.
“He has to rely on landing that one punch on most guys in the top of the division and he ain’t going to land it on me. I’m not the type of fighter who takes stupid risks.
“I’m prepared for everything. With Chad Mendes, you can’t count on just bullying your way in and having it your way straight away.
“If it happens that way, beauty, but I’m prepared for it not to happen that way. That’s why I think I’m going to knock him out.”
Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
