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

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

Video Transcript

KEVIN IOLE: Hi, folks. I am Kevin Iole. Welcome back to "Yahoo Sports." UFC 266 on Saturday, 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?

ALEX 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 either-- 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. You know, 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?

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah, man. That's my-- it's just-- these are the type of situations that we do. And it's just shark tanks and things like that, so. Been in-- you know, we try to do fight simulators. But, you know, these fight simulators are, you know, they're not meant to go your way. They're meant to be difficult, start off in bad positions, put the pressure on you, you know.

You're hitting pads one minute. You've got someone coming out, attacking you, strike, and then someone grabs you from behind, wrestles you. Just so-- just to get everything firing-- you know what I mean-- and just really get that heart rate up and that work rate going and get-- work on 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 them positions. I probably won't be in any of them positions, but, hey, I'm prepared if they do go there. So I'm fully prepared. I'm all-- I'm never underprepared.

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

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: Well, we need to make it unfair sometimes. Yeah, again, I'm really fit, right? Yeah. So we need five against one. So while one's, uh, trying to have my neck, the other one's trying to wrestle me. But yeah, the whole-- the whole point of that is just so they could just, you know, 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-- like you were doing well. How bad were you, Alex? I mean, uh, and did you get scared at any point about having-- having the virus?

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah, man. It was, uh, yeah, I was fine. And then hearing-- hearing that the news of you testing positive and all that was, uh, obviously devastating, you know what I mean? It was just like, what? There's no way. Like at the time, I had no-- didn't feel like I had many-- that much symptoms at all, just-- but then, you know, after I found that out, within a couple of days, you really felt the symptoms. And yeah, 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 lung-- lungs and that, I just wanted to make sure that, you know, we weren't getting any scar tissue, because obviously that's long-lasting effects and that. You know, that's career ending, you know. You hear a lot of stories like that, career-ending stories of scar tissue on the lungs.

And, you know, that was something that we were worried about. And that's why we try to make sure we did the best we can to sort of get us back to where we are today. But yeah, everyone did a great job, and we all good now. We 100%.

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

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah, exactly. I should be all good now, so. But I didn't even get to make fight week last time. So that's what I mean, by even just doing the interviews again, getting cameras in my face and whatever. Like, all that, you know, I'm loving that.

I've been locked down in Australia for-- for how long now, a few months, or a couple of months. So it's-- it's good to just be back and doing this whole process again, yeah. 'Cause I even missed out on that. It's been over a year before I've done any of this.

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

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: I mi-- mate, I even miss you guys. Don't worry about that.

KEVIN IOLE: We know he was really-- really by himself a lot if he missed us. That is crazy. Hey, Alex, um, you know, what was the stint like on "The Ultimate Fighter." I know you and Brian, you know-- unlike most UFC fighters-- don't tend to get along, right. It seems like there's legitimately a personal dislike between you guys. What was it like, you know, having to coach against him and, you know, being around him as much as you were?

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

If someone's respectful to me, I'm going to be respectful back. I ain't going to insult their family and-- and start just going at him for no reason. That's just not who I am, you know. I'm a-- you know, 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 know, you annoy me, I'm going to say something, you know.

I'm not going to be afraid to call you a piece of [MUTED] or whatever it is. You know what I mean? Like, 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 sort of change.

Things will be said, and you're just like, really? You know what I mean? So again, it's not, you know, 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.

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah, well, you know, you could say that. You could say a lot of people were like, oh, no, 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's what-- that was obviously a 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-- sort of 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. And we ended up doing other pranks, you know. You-- I think you mentioned the urinal cakes earlier. So that didn't air.

KEVIN IOLE: I heard before we started taping, yeah.

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

But you know, that was just a bit of a laugh, you know. Again, I was there to coach. The pranks, man, I thought it was funny, even though, you know, 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, you know. 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? Like, who is this bloke, you know what I mean? 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? So yeah.

KEVIN IOLE: What about from a fight--

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: That's my take on it.

KEVIN IOLE: --standpoint? Did you get-- you know, do you get an insight into him from a fight standpoint being around him, or is it just more on a personal standpoint?

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: A personal standpoint and even as a-- on a fight standpoint. You know, even when you hear him talk in game plans and, you know, the way he thinks and all that, like, you know, he tries to-- I feel like he-- he's obviously learned a lot in his last couple of years of 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 and not just that, even just on a competitive sort of side, just hearing things. You know, I don't think-- I think he's pretty-- what's the word I'm looking for-- like, you know, his mental side of things. You know, I don't think he's ready.

You know, 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, I've never played the game. But you know what I mean, he's played the game, and you could already see him making excuses for if he lost.

While we're playing, it was pretty even at the start. And he's like, oh, maybe this [INAUDIBLE] going to go forever. I don't care who wins. You may as well win. So he's already looking for a way out, or you're 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-- 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, you know, 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, like, I think most people going into that fight 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.

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: Well, 100%. And again, I'm not-- I'm not the one to say that he didn't look great. I thought he did look good. He definitely evolved as a fighter. He showed things that he has hasn't [INAUDIBLE] showed in his previous fights. So he's 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 there at a range and not, you know, flat-footed, not doing nothing and letting Ortega just do his thing. And you know, you can let Ortega do that. Anyone can look like a stud. And like I said, though, you know, when-- 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 know, 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-- the puzzle you're trying to figure out while I'm-- I'm in your face. I'm in this uncomfortable range that you don't want me to be. You know what I mean? So you know, trying to-- to work these new tools that he's been working on while I'm doing that in front of you, it's is a whole different ball game. And I'm going to show that.

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

ALEX 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-- yeah, 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. You know, if you win this fight, I mean-- the featherweight division is arguably the deepest division in the sport. I mean, there's a lot of-- I think 135, 145, maybe 155 are the three that have so many really good contenders. But you know, 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 know, you've got to be sick of thinking, hey, I beat, you know, Brian Ortega, a really good contender, and I'm back to Max Holloway again?

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: Man, it's no question. It's just how it is, you know what I mean? Like, it's-- we do have a stacked division. There is a lot of people coming up. But right now, you know, obviously Ortega's there. I go and do that. You know, and Max is going and taking out the number one contenders. He's number one contender.

Then we're going to have to run it back, you know what I mean? That's-- 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. You know, he's been spoiled getting so many rematches. But at least he is working to make sure no one else can take that from him by fighting guys, you know.

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, that's it. He's doing what he has to do to stay at number one, just like I did before I was champ. You know, I made sure I was 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. And obviously, we're going to talk. We're going to talk money. And then we can talk, you know what I mean? So we'll just worry about, uh, 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?

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: Oh yeah, man. That's fun. I'm enjoying it. It's not-- 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?

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: Steak. When I'm cooking steak-- I would say the steaks. Steak's my thing. I've nailed the steak.

KEVIN IOLE: I need to get-- 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 vocal about Nick Diaz being back, right? You know, I know you love the fights. You've got to-- and Nick Diaz, first time in six years.

ALEX VOLKANOVSKI: Yeah, man, looking forward to going out there, defending this. But yeah, Nick Diaz, uh, you know, definitely looking forward to that, as well. I'll be able to watch that as I-- as I'm warming up. [INAUDIBLE] he's a icon of the sport, mate. Everyone knows Nick Diaz.

I mean, I remember watching him ever-- you know, first-- first time even watching UFC, like 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 were 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 said, he will be fighting Brian Ortega on Saturday at UFC 266. Alex, I appreciate you, brother. Thank you so much.

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