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Except for Russia, the United States is considered the most developed nation for training MMA, as it has had a massive head start. Many believe fighters have to train in America at some point to reach the pinnacle of the sport.
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However, Volkanovski wanted to prove that UFC champions can be made outside of the U.S. Volkanovski lives in Windang, a southern suburb of the city of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. Volkanovski was honored with the keys to the city of Wollongong last year. At the ceremony, Volkanovski recalled a lot of people advising him to train in America in the past. However, “The Great” had decided to hone his skills at the Freestyle Fighting Gym in Wollongong.
Doing It His Way
“You’re going to get a lot of people saying, ‘Oh, it’s a small town. You’re going to need to go to America and train — that’s the only way you’re going to get there.’ I said, no, I’m going to do it from here, Wollongong,” Volkanovski said at the ceremony.
In addition to the Freestyle Fighting Gym in his hometown, Volkanovski also occasionally trains at City Kickboxing in New Zealand and Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand.
While Volkanovski was the UFC featherweight champion in 2023, the then mayor of Wollongong, Gordon Bradbery, didn’t recommend his name for the keys to the city honors as he was associated with a violent sport.
Volkanovski (27-4) defended the featherweight title five times in his first title reign while also making two failed lightweight title bids. Volkanovski lost his title to Ilia Topuria, who moved up to lightweight after defending the title just once. Volkanovski became a two-time featherweight champion by winning the vacant title against Diego Lopes last year. Volkanovski is now set to defend his title in a rematch against Lopes (27-7) at UFC 325 next weekend, in front of a home crowd at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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