Jan cited the reason for Volkanovski's defeat in the fight with Topuria

Former UFC flyweight champion Peter Yan explained the early loss to former featherweight division leader Alexander Volkanovski in his recent fight with Elijah Topuria.

The Russian, like many of his colleagues, believes that the Australian rushed his return to the octagon after his knockout in the fight with Islam Makhachev last October.

"Volkanovski had not recovered from the fight with Islam and the fight with Topuria was an early one for him, let's put it that way. If you saw the first round, Alex was showing himself pretty good. I think if he hadn't started these transitions from one weight to another, he would have been competing in his division for a long time," Yang said at the press conference.