Aussie champion Alexander Volkanovski reveals family urged him to retire from UFC
The two-time division champion made the admission on former UFC and ONE FC champion Demetrious Johnson's 'MightyCast' podcast.
Following consecutive knockout defeats to Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria, Volkanovski had a 13-month hiatus from the cage before facing Brazilian fighter Diego Lopes for the vacant featherweight title.
The 36-year-old said that his family had thought it would be the last time he stepped in the octagon.
'Straight after the fight, my whole family is like, 'why didn't you just put the gloves down in the middle of that octagon straight away?', they all want me to retire,' Volkanovski explained.
'They all wanted me to, but now that I'm making the decision to keep going, I'm not probably going to bring that back up purely because they're worried about affecting my frame of mind.
'I'll be alright, they can say what they want, and maybe they're just trying to be selective.
'But they made it clear that they all wanted me to stop straight after this fight.'
Johnson later pondered when is the right time to retire for a UFC fighter, posing the question to Volkanovski and how he views it with his current career trajectory.
'I had the two losses, and then I had … the resurgence,' Volkanovski said.
'I ain't looking to do a resurgence ever again.
'I know it's not too far away.'
The Aussie went on to discuss future opponents he'd like to face to defend his belt.
'You ask me who I'd be most excited for, It probably would be Movsar [Evloev],' he said.
'He deserves it, he's a guy that hasn't been beaten, he's undefeated.
'The last undefeated guy (I fought) I lost to [Topuria].
'I haven't fought in my division a legit wrestler/grappler.
'At the end of the day when people look back at my resume, I reckon his [Evloev] is gonna mean so much more.'
Volkanovski is expected to return to the octagon to defend the featherweight belt sometime after September this year, with his wife expecting to give birth to their fourth child.
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