Alexander Volkanovski,55, rose from being a concrete worker to one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC. He competes in the UFC Featherweight division and is the current UFC Featherweight Champion. Before he joined UFC, he competed professionally as a boxer.
The Wollongong fighter began fighting at an early age and before he was 12, he won two national titles. However, at the age of 14, he switched to rugby before he later came back to wrestling.
Who Is Alexander Volkanovski?
Alexander Volkanovski comes from a working family that migrated from native Macedonia to Australia. He was born on 29 September 1988 in Wollongong, New South Wales. His mother is from Greece while his father is from Yugoslavia.
As a child, Alexander the Great started training in football however, he soon moved from that to wrestling Greek-Roman and freestyle. He attended Lake Illawarra High School.
Soon after his graduation, he started working as a concrete worker in a local company with his father. At that time, he was a rugby junior but rugby was not paying his bills so he joined his father.
Alexander Volkanovski played rugby briefly
In 2010, Alexander Volkanovski played semi-professional rugby league for the Warilla Gorillas and won the Mick Cronin medal as the best player.
Before he quit, his performance in his team’s Grand Final victory over Gerringong earned him the man of the match award.
He began his MMA career at the age of 23
At the age of 23, Alexander Volkanovski realized that his physical disadvantages would not allow him to accomplish a bright career in rugby. This made him switch to MMA.
The fighter has revealed he used to watch UFC events when he was a child and would often rent UFC VHS tapes from Blockbuster and buy UFC pay-per-views from 14 years of age.
He started playing soccer before he transitioned to wrestling at 12. Soon, wrestling coaches saw his talent and they decided to train him. From 12 to 14, he became a two-time national champion. During that time, he only lost once to his older.
While many coaches did not believe in him, one coach Joe Lopez decided to help him train professionally and compete.
Remarkably, his MMA debut fight ended in just 6 seconds. His following fights were also similar to the first. This drew so much attention to him that he was branded as a freak of nature in martial arts.
After five fights, Alexander got his professional MMA license. Ever since, he has faced big names such as Max Holloway, Brian Ortega, and Yair Rodriguez. At the moment, his MMA record is 26-3-0.
In addition to rugby and martial arts, Alexander has a single boxing bout. He won by unanimous decision in four rounds against Dillion Bargero in a Super welterweight.
He has three daughters with his wife, Emma Volkanovski
The UFC champion and his high school sweetheart, Emma, have been married since 2012. He once wrote on Instagram,
Happy Anniversary to this stunner!! 8 years of marriage, 15 years together…high school sweethearts. Here’s to many more years
together.
They are proud parents of three daughters. They had their first daughter, Ariana, who was born in 2016 and she is currently 9 years old. The second is Airlie, 7, and the third was born in February 2023.
See Also: Alexander Volkanovski’s Wife Is Wife Is Emma Volkanovski: All We Know About Her
Alexander Volkanovski net worth
Alexander ‘The Great’ currently has a net worth of about $3 million. The UFC featherweight champion’s purse has steadily increased due to his rise in the fight game.
Apparently, he received about $110,000 per fight in 2019 and in 2022, after his fight with Max Holloway, he reportedly received about $1 million.
According to Forbes, he earned $750,000 during his fight with Ilia Topuria in February 2024.
Championships and accomplishments
- Amateur wrestling
- Australian National Schools Wrestling Competition
- Mixed martial arts
- Five successful title defenses
- First Australian-born fighter to win a UFC championship
- The highest striking differential in UFC Featherweight division history (3.03)
- Most leg kicks landed in a fight in UFC Featherweight division history
- 2022 Fighter of the Year
- 2019 – July 2020 Upset of the Year vs. Max Holloway at UFC 245
- 2022 Charles ‘Mask’ Lewis Fighter of the Year
- 2022 International Fighter of the Year
- 2023 Fight of the Year
- ESPN
- 2021 September Fight of the Year
- 2023 Fight of the Year
Discussion about this post