‘I Didn’t Know He’d be that Convincing’- Alexander Volkanovski’s Coach Was Blown Away By His Beatdown of Max Holloway at UFC 276
City Kickboxing’s head coach, Eugene Bareman, spoke out on Submission Radio and discussed Alexander Volkanovski’s win over Max Holloway at UFC 276. Volkanovski put on a shut-out performance and managed to seal up his trilogy with ‘Blessed’ with a 3-0 winning record.
In the minds of most MMA fans, Alexander Volkanovski has now definitively closed the book on his well-documented competitive feud with Max Holloway. Moreover, it was the utter dominance that he displayed in the fight that will be remembered as part of his legacy moving forward.
Eugene Bareman lauds ‘best on the planet’ Alexander Volkanovski
Bareman wasn’t hesitant to label Alexander Volkanovski as the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet and this is especially high praise since he’s the head coach of Israel Adesanya who has five middleweight title defenses.
However, the fact that Alexander Volkanovski has managed to close the chapter over Holloway in such an authoritative fashion that Eugene Bareman unabashedly has named Volkanovski as the P4P best fighter.
Alexander Volkanovski becomes the 4th fighter in UFC history to win his first 12 UFC fights (Also: Anderson Silva, Kamaru Usman, Khabib Nurmagomedov).
He becomes the 1st fighter in UFC history to beat the same opponent 3 times in title fights. pic.twitter.com/UYxxCCesVp
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 3, 2022
“Oh man, I’m lost for words, man. Like, it’s just… the team, me, Joe, Alex, the coaches, we talked about a masterclass, about just cementing, solidifying every round and just being convincing. S***, I didn’t know he’d be that convincing. I didn’t know that. As much as I’ve gotten to know Alex over the years, the guy could still have a performance like that and still leave me gob-smacked.”
“I’m like, wow. Just when you think he’s good and he’s at his best, he finds another level. And just, what a masterclass. Like, respectfully, if that’s not the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, then I don’t know who is.” [h/t mmafighting.com]
Moreover, he went on record to say that all doubts about his second fight against Max Holloway should be put to rest even though it was a close match-up.
“He’s the best on the planet,” Bareman said. “He was the best after the first fight with Max. Max was the best, and then we beat him. And then people still didn’t – there was still some doubters. And then the second fight was close, but we still won. And then there was still some doubters. I was never in doubt.”
