UFC 328 star Alexander Volkov predicts future Alex Pereira heavyweight fight: ‘He’s big, I’m huge’

If both Volkov and Pereira emerge victorious from their upcoming contests, they could be on a collision course down the line. And ‘Drago’ likes his chances should a fight come to fruition.

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Alexander Volkov backs himself against Alex Pereira at heavyweight

Volkov, a former M-1 Global and Bellator heavyweight champion, has been competing in the UFC since 2016.

Across the past decade, the Russian has headlined seven events against the likes of Tom Aspinall, Alistair Overeem, Stefan Struve, and Fabricio Werdum.

‘Drago’ is among the most seasoned veterans in the UFC heavyweight division and currently occupies a spot inside the top three.

With that in mind, he would likely be among the top tests for the incoming Pereira in the heaviest weight class, and Volkov is confident that his size would prove to be too much for the Brazilian star.

“Fighting with Alex Pereira will be more easy for me (than Gane),” Volkov told MMA Fighting. “I don’t know (how he will perform at heavyweight).

“If his body is not genetic unique, it should be hard for him. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but we see his pictures. He has a lot of water in his body. It always makes cardio much worse, and punches and everything.

“I truly believe that heavyweight and any other division is like two different types of sports,” he continued. “We need different abilities to fight in heavyweights in the lower division.

“Comparing me with Alex Pereira, he’s big, but I’m huge. I’m not saying he ever meet the guys like me and his stand is a little bit open for this type of big guys. He’s used to fight with the guys who try to attack him, can’t touch him and he counterpunch with his hook or uppercut, but it’s so hard to do with me because I’m much taller, I have good reach and I have very good kicks.”

UFC 328 star Alexander Volkov could exploit Alex Pereira’s biggest weakness

While known for his striking talents, ‘Drago’ also teased his development as a wrestler, something that has long been touted as a weakness to exploit against ex-kickboxer ‘Poatan’.

“I’m working with a lot of wrestling,” Volkov said. “Now I have a lot of wrestling and jiu-jitsu skills, I work on this a lot. So I don’t know. Yeah, of course everything can happen, I can miss the punch, but on paper, I feel I have an advantage against Alex Pereira.

“So I don’t know how he will look in the heavyweight division, but it’s probably will be hard for him. It will be big challenge, and how he goes through this will show us, is he a real unique guy or something else?

“It’s interesting to see because honestly, he impressed me every time… But I’m on the other side of this line. I’m potential opponent right now because he came to heavyweight, so I’m looking for him like in different way. I try to find his weak points and weak sides, but also I respect him,” he added.

The Gane vs Pereira winner will fight Aspinall down the line to unify the heavyweight titles. Beyond that, either Volkov or Cortes-Acosta would appear to be most likely to secure the number one contender spot.

That means the stakes will be high at UFC 328 this Saturday, as the pair set the stage for Khamzat Chimaev’s first title defense, which will be against Sean Strickland in the main event.