Michael Chandler is advising former UFC featherweight champ Alex Volkanovski to take it easy following back-to-back knockouts.
The former featherweight champion has lost twice in a row, with his first knockout loss coming at the hands of Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 and the second one coming at the hands of Ilia Topuria at UFC 298, where the Aussie lost his featherweight belt.
Is it the perfect time for Volk to take some rest?
During a recent appearance on ‘The MMA Hour,’ Chandler said that Volkanovski should spend some time away from fighting.
“Man, I never want to strengthen the narrative of someone maybe making a bad decision, but it would maybe lend itself to that, right?” Chandler said. “I mean, Volk coming out, taking that fight on short notice, and then fighting — what? — three and a half, four months after, which means you’re back into a training camp, back sparring, taking blows to the head again, just month and a half, two months later. It’s not the right recipe, so to speak. Almost pretty much the exact opposite of what I’ve done. And this is why you can look at that and you can say, ‘Man, Volk might have had a different outcome that night had he not gone right back into a training camp.’
“It is a real thing. Your brain can shut off, your body can shut off, and there is a diminishing effect when it comes to being able to take punches. And yeah, I don’t want to say that was why it happened, but I want to see the best for Volk. I would like to see him sit down a little bit, enjoy some time with his family, still stay involved but don’t take any punches to the head, man, because we need him in the sport for a little while longer.”
Do you agree with Michael Chandler?
