Giant Russian heavyweight Alexander Volkov gave the surest sign yet that he is ready for a run at heavyweight gold after the 6ft 7in striker earned a TKO win against fellow veteran Alistair Overeem in Las Vegas Saturday night.
Volkov was quicker to the punch for the majority of the less-than-two-round contest, landing a barrage of clubbing blows on the Dutch former world title challenger and eventually finished him with a clubbing blow which sent Overeem to his knees in the second. The win is Volkov’s seventh in the UFC (against just two defeats) and places him firmly in the conversation to be in line to face the winner of March’s title tilt between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou — or even placing him in the sweepstakes to face Jon Jones later this year.
Afterwards though, Volkov said that a UFC title is his goal.
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“I want to fight for the belt, for sure,” Volkov said via MMA Junkie. “But we’ll see. We’ll have some good fights in the future at heavyweight, so we’ll see how it finishes and we’ll see what will be my place. But for sure, I would like to take a title shot.
“I feel really excited and I feel great. It’s my time, and I’m coming for the belt.
I work a lot. I feel now I’m in really good shape, but for sure in the future I’ll be feeling better and better. So this is not the end of my shape and my form,” he added. “I will get better and I’m trying to make hard camps, working on all my skills that I didn’t do before, and I’ve become better
