Alexander Volkanovski is an Australian professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the current UFC Featherweight Champion. He is also a former Australian Fighting Championship (AFC) Featherweight champion. Prior to his UFC debut, Volkanovski competed as a professional boxer in 2015. As of 24 October 2023, he is #3 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings.
Volkanovski was born on 29 September 1988, in Wollongong, New South Wales. His father was born in the village of Beranci in Yugoslavia, SR Macedonia (now North Macedonia) while his mother is from Greece. Alex began training in Greco-Roman wrestling at an early age and won a national title twice at the age of 12. He decided to give up wrestling at the age of 14 and instead focused on a career in rugby league as a front rower. Volkanovski attended Lake Illawarra High School throughout his teenage years and worked as a concreter after graduation.
He played semi-professional rugby league for the Warilla Gorillas in the Group 7 Rugby League where he was awarded the Mick Cronin Medal in 2010 as the league's best player. He also played a crucial role in Warilla's 2011 Premiership winning season and received the Man of the Match award for his performance in his team's Grand Final victory over Gerringong. Volkanovski then decided to quit rugby league at 23 years of age to pursue a professional career in Mixed Martial Arts in the latter half of 2011. He claims to have watched Ultimate Fighting Championship events since childhood and would often rent UFC VHS tapes from Blockbuster as well as purchase UFC pay per views from 14 years of age.
Coach Joe Lopez said Volkanovski started training in MMA at the age of 22 and Greco-Roman wrestling to keep fit during the rugby league off season, where he weighed 97 kg (214 lb). However, he soon realized he had a passion for the sport and wanted to go as far as he could. Volkanovski quickly became a good counter striker with a powerful overhand right as well as a fantastic offensive wrestler. He initially competed in multiple amateur fights in the middleweight division as he adjusted from his rugby weight before turning professional and moving down to welterweight, lightweight and ultimately the featherweight division.
Volkanovski is based at Freestyle Fighting Gym in Wollongong but regularly completes training camps at Tiger Muay Thai and Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA in Phuket and City Kickboxing in Auckland with fellow UFC fighters, former UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya, Dan Hooker and Kai Kara-France. Members of Volkanovski's team have included Eugene Bareman and Craig Jones.
