The Film Room: Alexander Volkov
UFC 229 is now available on Amazon Prime.
Alexander Volkov on Saturday will step into the Octagon for the fifth time, as he takes on Derrick Lewis at UFC 229 in a fight that could determine the next No. 1 contender for the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title. Volkov spent most of his career in M-1 Global and Bellator MMA before signing with the UFC, where he is a perfect 4-0 and finds himself on the verge of a title shot.
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Standing 6-foot-7, Volkov is one of the tallest and longest
fighters in the division and actually uses his height and reach
advantages to his benefit. However, what makes Volkov such an
interesting contender is his ability to mix in fighting at range
with aggressive flurries in the pocket and against the cage. Volkov
will spend the majority of bouts fighting at range, using his long
jab and lead leg snap kick to deter opponents from coming forward
before coming forward himself with a quick combo in the pocket.
This mix of staying patient and aggressively working on the lead
makes Volkov almost impossible to time or know when he is coming
forward and when he is going to jab you at the range.
Since he almost always has the height and reach advantage, Volkov takes on a kick-heavy style to make use of his long legs and keep opponents at distance. Most of his kicks target the body since they are harder to catch and turn into takedowns, but he will occasionally throw some kicks up top if his opponent is not much of a grappling threat. His most important kicks are the lead-leg teeps to the body. Volkov’s opponents are always trying to get inside his guard to take away his reach advantage, and his teeps to the body prevent that from happening. To understand what Volkov is trying to do, all one needs to do is watch some Semmy Schilt fights. Schilt, a 7-foot Dutch kickboxer, masterfully used his height and length to his advantage and serves as the blueprint for all tall heavyweight fighters. Despite being extremely slow, Schilt managed to dominate opponents simply by learning how to jab and teep correctly to keep opponents at range, where he could land his long kicks and punches while the opponent was out of range to land their own.
Volkov also makes liberal use of his knees in the clinch since they have a shorter distance to travel than most. Moreover, he has a beautiful intercepting knee to the body that he uses to stop opponents from coming in if his jab and teep are not working. It is usually not advisable for someone as tall as Volkov to initiate the clinch since it negates his reach advantage, but he has done so well with his knees and striking in the pocket that it is difficult to say he is doing anything wrong.
Volkov is not the perfect striker, and his tendency to fight up close despite his reach advantage has gotten him in trouble many times in the past. He has struggled with aggressive opponents like Timothy Johnson, who was not afraid to run forward with wild swinging hooks. Volkov often retreats on a straight line instead of circling away, so he can be easy to hit when moving backward, as we saw in the Johnson fight.
The best way to take away someone’s reach advantage is to turn the fight into a grappling match. Fabricio Werdum dominated Volkov on the ground for most of their fight before getting finished in the fourth round, and the Russian lost a couple of fights in Bellator by being controlled on the mat. Since joining the UFC, however, his takedown defense has been better than ever, and he has defended 74 percent of takedowns inside the Octagon.
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