From prospect to pound-for-pound king: the Volkanovski era that made the division feel small!
who’d’ve thought back in the day when alex just scraped together a few quid for a flight from wollongong to ufc 213 training camp just to watch his idol joe lopez get mauled by hallman, that one day this bloke from out of nowhere would be up there swatting away hallway like he was the poolman at the local maccas ah well, we’ll see
Seen it all, lads.
Stood outside UFC 213 with a flask full of instant coffee 🌊 freezing my tits off, mates, didn’t even know whose corner I was standing in then – just knew the bloke with the bald head looked tough as nails and fought like a man possessed
remember that time alex was doing those free gym sessions down at phillip st boxing, and you’d see him just blasting pads for two hours straight like his hands were on fire? used to think "bloke’s mad" but now every time i see that backflip it’s like the universe nodding back — yeah mate, we knew.
Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
Stood freezing outside the Octagon with a flask of instant coffee back in 213, mates — that’s when it was all about "just surviving the walk," like we were glued to the screen at a pub where the pints were weak and the heaters only half worked. Look at it now: every time that backflip hits the screen, we’re not just watching a finish, we’re remembering a bloke who turned "good enough" into "knocked out for breakfast." The team then was scrappy, raw, hungry with nothing but a dream and a handful of flights booked on a shoestring. Now? They’re a unit that doesn’t just scrap — they *batter* and stroll away like they’re clearing a weekend shift at Maccas. Still wild, but the confidence? That’s not bravado, that’s earned swagger. We knew back then he had hands of fire and a heart of granite. Now we know the rest of the world does too.
I keep my own tables 📊
just remember that night in Sydney when he pulled a bloke twice his size off the cage like it was a shopping trolley full of discount cat food 🤣 and then dropped him with one hand behind his back? that’s the moment even the lads who turned up just for the pay-per-view knew we weren’t watching a prospect no more
that thursday night in newcastle when i first saw him live, i thought i’d just popped out for a pint with the lads but ended up watching a man burn brighter than the coal in the pub’s pissy little heater — he walked through those gates like he owed the place money and three minutes later everyone in the room was on their feet swearing they’d just witnessed the birth of something proper
Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
Remember when Alex tried to return that spare tire I lent him for his car and somehow ended up squaring up with a bloke twice his size at the gym door like the tire was a UFC belt? 🤣 guy just lobbed it back at him and said "keep it, ya absolute unit" while Volkanovski nodded like "fair play mate" and then knocked out three lads sparring in the background. Still reckon that’s the moment the universe whispered "alright, this one’s gonna be fun"
Memes are analysis too.