Alexander Volkov stole many of the headlines in the build-up for UFC 333, something many didn't expect, at least to this magnitude.
Although Volkov (41-11 MMA, 15-5 UFC) has been a longtime staple of the UFC heavyweight rankings, he hasn't garnered as much attention as some of his fellow heavyweight contenders. However, this past week ahead of his heavyweight clash against Rizvan Kuniev (15-4-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC), Volkov opened up with the English-speaking fans and media like never before, largely due to Volkov becoming more fluent in English. The Russian fighter was happy to get embraced by the English-speaking fan base, making UFC 333 fight week a special one for him.
"I just do my job and try to like taking fun, honestly, enjoy throughout the week."
Volkov told UFC.com. "I really enjoyed it. People thought I did it to promote myself or something, but I just did it for fun. I just started speaking English more and started to be more confident in my English, and just give me opportunity to speak with you all. You guys started to understand me. I became more confident to open my personality with you and took it fun."
Volkov was a winner on al fronts at UFC 333. Apart from garnering more attention, Volkov got a key win over Kuniev, which could set him up for title contention. Volkov was happy with his overall performance.
"Tough fight, tough opponent," Volkov said. "As I told before, he's good, but I am better, like we showed. I dominated the fight. I saw all of his attacks. He was tough. I respect his toughness, but I go through the struggle to win this fight and I'm happy."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Alexander Volkov happy he's now able to connect with English-speaking MMA fan base
