Alexander Volkanovski talks Brian Ortega grudge match, 'TUF' and the return of Nick Diaz

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski says after their stint over the summer as head coaches on "The Ultimate Fighter" that he can't wait to punch Brian Ortega in the face at UFC 266.

Video Transcript

KEVIN IOLE: Hi, folks. I am Kevin Iole, and welcome back to Yahoo! Sports. UFC 266 on Saturday is going to be a great card, the return of Nick Diaz, but also the return of the champ. And I'm not sure whether I should call him champ or coach, because he's done both recently, the featherweight king, Mr. Alex Volkanovski. How are you, Volko?

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: I'm good mate, very good. Good to be back in the whole fight week process, back doing interviews with you guys. You know, it's been too long.

So this whole process is exciting to me, so I'm just glad to be back.

KEVIN IOLE: I have covered MMA for probably most of your life. I'm a little older than you, so I've been around MMA a long time. And I know that MMA fighters train hard.

But I was kind of blown away when I saw the video of you that popped up, I think last week. Training with five guys at once, and one guy's got a choke on you, somebody else is coming in and getting you. I mean, what is the point of doing that, five against one?

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah, man. That's the-- these are the type of sessions that we do. And it's just shark tank's and things like that. So we're trying to fight simulators, but these fight simulators are not meant to go your way.

They're meant to be difficult. Bad start off, in bad positions. Put the pressure on you, you know. You're hitting pads one minute, and you've got someone coming and attacking you, striking. And then someone grabs you from behind, wrestles you just to get everything firing. You know what I mean? And just really get that heart rate up, and that work rate going, and working that cardio.

And then obviously, see a lot of people don't like to put themselves in bad positions. But that's something that we've always done. Like you need to be in their positions.

I probably won't be in any of their positions, but I am prepared if they do go there. So I'm fully prepared. I'm never underprepared.

KEVIN IOLE: I was just blown away. Somebody was choking you, it looked like. And another guy comes and starts to wrestle you. I mean, it's like how unfair are we going to make this here.

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: Oh, they're not make it unfair sometimes. Yeah, again I'll really fit right. So we need five against one. So while one's trying to have my neck, another one's trying to wrestle me. But yeah, the whole point of that is just so they can just obviously get us in an uncomfortable position and work from there.

KEVIN IOLE: We can see the UFC belt on the bed behind you. You were supposed to defend this title against Brian Ortega In March. And unfortunately, you got a bout of COVID. And I had talked to you and seen you just before that, and you looked in great shape, and like you were doing well. How bad were you, Alex? And did you get scared at any point, about having the virus.

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah, man. It was fun. And then hearing the news of you testing positive and all that, was obviously devastating. You know what I mean? It was just like, what? There's no way. At the time, I had no, didn't feel like I had many symptoms at all. But then, after I found that out, within a couple of days you really felt them symptoms. And yeah, it got me. It got me pretty good.

There were maybe a little scares, just purely for the scar tissue on the lung. Obviously, having the pneumonia and the infection in the lungs. And then I just wanted to make sure that we weren't getting any scar tissue. Because obviously, that's long lasting effects. And that's career-ending, you know.

You hear in a lot of stories like that, career-ending stories of scar tissue on the lungs. And that was something that we worried about, and that's why we tried to make sure we did the best we can to sort of get us back to where we had to be.

But everyone did a great job, and we're all good now. We're 100%.

KEVIN IOLE: And you got vaccinated subsequent to that, so no concerns coming in to the fight now.

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah, exactly. I should be all good now. But I didn't even get to make fight week last time. That's what I mean by even just doing the interviews again, getting cameras in my face, and whatever. All that, you know, I'm loving that. I've been locked down in Australia for how long now, a few months, a couple of months.

It's good to just be back and doing this whole process again, because I even missed out on that. It's been over a year before we got to end this.

KEVIN IOLE: Come on, you missed us? Come on, I don't believe that.

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: I-- mate, I even missed you guys. Don't worry about that.

KEVIN IOLE: We know he was really by himself a lot, if he missed us. That is crazy.

Hey, Alex, what was the stint like on "The Ultimate Fighter?" I know you and Brian, unlike most UFC fighters don't tend to get along, right? It seems like there's a legitimately, a personal dislike between you guys. What was it like having to coach against him and being around him as much as you were?

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah, man, you're right. You're obviously going to get a lot of fighters that there will be beef. A lot of times you feel like it's probably forced, a lot of the times. But you know, I'm not that type of guy. You know what I mean?

Someone's respectful to me, I'm going to be respectful back. I am not going to insult their family and start just going at them for no reason. That's not who I am. I'm a true martial artist. I'm all about respect and all that type of stuff.

But I'm the type of guy that you annoy me, I'm going to say something. I'm not going to be afraid to call you a piece of shit or whatever it is. You know what I mean? That's just the type of guy I am.

So being on "The Ultimate Fighter" with him, and seeing a different side obviously, the competitive side of things, and then trying to get under each other's skin. And obviously, you know just stir the pot and have a bit of fun with it, but you tend to, things tend to change. Things that will be said, and you're just like, really? You know what I mean?

So again, it's not the baddest blood you will ever see, but yeah, I don't like the guy. And I'm sure he doesn't like me. And the more and more I hear him talk, the more and more I want to punch him in the face. So I can't wait to fight him this weekend.

KEVIN IOLE: He got the upper hand on you a little bit, though, didn't he, even though most of your guys won the fight? He ended up making you go home on a donkey one day.

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah, well, you could say that. You could say a lot of people like, oh, yeah, he won the prank war and whatnot. But you know, in saying that, the sensitive guy he is, he wouldn't let us do pranks to him. So that was obviously pretty difficult for us. So we weren't allowed to mess with his car.

There's not much things you can do. That's why every season you see people messing with the car, because that's what you can really do. But older, sensitive Ortega made sure that we weren't allowed to touch his car and all that type of stuff.

We ended up doing other pranks. I think you mentioned the urinal cakes earlier.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

KEVIN IOLE: I mentioned it before we started taping, yeah.

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah, exactly. So they didn't air that, probably because he was a bit sensitive about that as well. Or maybe they don't get the Aussie humor, you know? Maybe they thought, oh, yeah, that's probably not good. That's probably a bit grubby.

But you know, that was just a bit of a laugh. Again, I was there to coach. The pranks, somehow I thought it was funny even him taking the wheels off the cardboard, laughing about it. The little donkey for me. I thought it was great. You know what I mean? I love banter. I'm all about it.

So it was all good, but to see him do that and then pretty much not let us do that back to him, I just thought like, who does that? Who is this bloke? Even just that in itself, makes me just feel like Ortega is just the-- yeah again, just an absolute idiot. What a douchebag. You know what I mean?

KEVIN IOLE: What about from a fight standpoint, did you get an insight into him from a fight standpoint, being around him, or is it just more on a personal standpoint?

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: A personal standpoint and even as an honor fight standpoint. Even when you hear him talking game plans and the way he thinks and all that. He tries to-- I feel like he's obviously learned a lot in his last couple of years and things. And you've seen him evolve. But you know, he's trying to sort of express this knowledge.

But you can tell that he doesn't fully understand it, if that makes sense. He's sort of along the lines, but doesn't really understand it. He's just saying what he thinks sounds right.

But it's not just that, even just on a competitive sort of side, just hearing things. I don't think, I think he's pretty-- what's the word I'm looking for-- like his mental side of things. You know, I don't think he's ready.

He's not good under pressure. He's not good with confrontation or anything like that. When things don't go his way, he tends to crumble a little bit. He gets in his own head. And I can see that, even just being around him, playing cornhole. You know what I mean, even playing cornhole.

You know, never played the game. But he's played the game and you could already see him making excuses for if he lost. While we were playing, it was pretty even at the start. He's like, oh, maybe this [INAUDIBLE] is going to go forever. I don't care who wins, you may as well win. So he's already looking for a way out. Already looking for excuses. You get what I mean?

So he was under the pump a little bit, and he was already making excuses. So that's the type of mentality I think he has. So I've seen a lot in the experience of "The Ultimate Fighter."

And again, you show me little things like that, I'm going to take full advantage of it. I'm the wrong guy to have that knowledge, because I am going to break you. I'm going to put that pressure on you. You're going to crumble.

KEVIN IOLE: I want to throw this out at you, because I give credit where credit is due. I thought he fought really well. And he struck against the Korean Zombie, right? And I mean, to me I think most people going into that fight I think, well, Ortega is going to have to grapple. He's not going to stand there and strike with the Zombie. And he did pretty well that way.

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: Oh, 100%. And again, I'm not the one to say that he didn't look great. I thought he did look good. He definitely evolves as a fighter. He showed things that he hasn't fought in his-- I showed in his previous fights. So he definitely has leveled up.

But in saying that, we're talking about Zombie letting him do what he wanted, you know? Zombie's sitting on the, at a range and not flat footed, not doing nothing, and letting Ortega just do his thing. And you can let Ortega do that. Anyone can look like a stud.

And like I said though, when he's under the pump, when he's under pressure a little bit, he tends to crumble. If I'm standing there doing nothing in front of him, he's going to look good.

But hey, let's be real. I ain't going to stand in front of you doing nothing. You know, you're going to fight my fight. You're going to adjust to what I'm doing. I'm going to have you-- you're going to not only be physically challenged, you're going to be mentally challenged by what I'm throwing at you. What are you getting, the puzzle you're trying to figure out while I'm in your face, I'm in this uncomfortable range that you don't want me in. You know what I mean?

So you know, trying to work these new tools that he's been working on while I'm doing that in front of you, this is a whole different ball game. I'm going to show that.

KEVIN IOLE: I think pace here, you're saying pace is going to be a big issue for you?

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah. Oh, yeah, 100%. Pace, and again, there's just going to be too many things for him to worry about. I'm going to be leading the dance, and he's going to be trying to keep up.

KEVIN IOLE: So one or two other things. If you win this fight, the featherweight division is arguably the deepest division in the sport. There's a lot of, I think 135, 145, maybe 155 are the three that have so many really good contenders. But let's take the argument that 45 is the best.

If you win this fight, isn't there a really good possibility that you're going to be fighting your old familiar friend, Max Holloway, again. I mean, you've got to be sick of thinking, hey, I beat Brian Ortega, a really good contender, and I'm back to Max Holloway again?

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: Man, it's look, that's just how it is. You know what I mean? We do have stacked divisions. There's a lot of people coming up. But right now obviously, Ortega's there. I go and do that.

And Max is going and taking out the number one contenders. He's number one contender. Then we're going to have to ride it back, you know what I mean? That's fine. He's at least, he's not sitting back waiting just to get another opportunity, which who knows, he probably could have. He's been spoiled there, getting so many rematches.

But at least, he is working to make sure no one else can take that from him, by fighting guys. I think he's fighting, yeah. I don't know if that's confirmed. But he goes out there and takes that year as well. You know with that said, he's doing what he has to do to stay at number one, just like I did before I was champ. I made sure I was the one to back up and all that type of stuff. So he's doing all the right things to get that trilogy.

So obviously I'm going to go out there, worry about Ortega, do my thing in. Obviously, we're going to talk money. And then we could talk, you know what I mean? We'll just worry about a, we'll worry about Ortega this weekend, first.

KEVIN IOLE: I'm sure the UFC will make the money right for you. But I guess the question is, how's the money coming in on that cooking channel of yours?

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: I hear that man. That's fun. I'm enjoying it. It's not about the money. I just love my cooking. So why not film it?

KEVIN IOLE: So what is your best, like in other words, if you're having important company over, what's the best thing you make?

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: Steak. Well, I'm good with steak. I would say the steak's my thing. I've nailed the steak.

KEVIN IOLE: I need to get over to your place, I'll tell you.

Alexander Volkanovski on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena here in Las Vegas. He will be fighting Brian Ortega in a stacked card. You've got to be psyched a little bit, Volko, about Nick Diaz being back, right? I know you love the fights. You've got a-- Nick Diaz, first time in six years.

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah, man. Looking forward to going out there and defending this. But yeah, Nick Diaz-- definitely looking forward to that, as well. I'll be able to watch that as I'm warming up. I mean, like, yeah, he's an icon of the sport, mate.

Everyone knows that Nick Diaz. I mean, I remember watching him, first time even watching the UFC, when I was a young pup. Just watching from blockbuster little DVDs, you know what I mean? The amount of fights I watched him or back then from Blockbuster.

So it's again, he's a big part of the UFC history, ever made history. And to be able to have him back after such a long break or on a card that I'm headlining, is just incredible.

KEVIN IOLE: Well, this man once-- also is a big part of UFC history. The featherweight champion of the world as I say, he will be fighting Brian Ortega on Saturday at UFC 266. Alex, I appreciate you, brother. Thank you so much.

ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI: No worries. Thank you. Thanks for having me.