Volkanovski admitted that the defeat to Makhachev influenced the outcome of the fight with Topuria

Alex Volkanovski, a former UFC featherweight champion, admitted that the reason for his poor performance in the fight with Topuria was an early defeat in a battle with Makhachev.

“Even though the judges gave me the first round, and I led in the second until I missed, I wasn’t myself in this fight, and I know I could have done much better - I shouldn’t have let myself get caught. I don’t want this to look like an excuse, but perhaps the defeat to Islam Makhachev really had an impact. It's only been two months and I tend to agree that it was too short a break,” Volkanovski said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.

Let us remind you that Volkanovski lost to Topuria by knockout in the second round.