Michael Chandler urges Alexander Volkanovski to slow down following back-to-back KO losses: “Your brain can shut off”

Michael Chandler thinks Alexander Volkanovski needs to slow down.

Volkanovski has suffered back-to-back knockout losses after looking like an absolute world beater. The once-dominant UFC featherweight titleholder suffered a head kick knockout loss to current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev back in October 2023, and was recently put to sleep by Ilia Topuria at UFC 298. Volkanovski lost the 145-pound gold to “El Matador,” and now he is being advised to take some time off.

Count Chandler as someone who shares that piece of advice with “The Great.”

RELATED: DEMETRIOUS JOHNSON DOESN’T LIKE ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI’S CHANCES IN A REMATCH WITH ILIA TOPURIA: “ALL ILIA HAS TO DO IS TOUCH HIM”

Michael Chandler Advises Alexander Volkanovski To Take More Time Off

During an appearance on MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour,” Michael Chandler expressed his belief that Alexander Volkanovski may not be giving his brain and body enough time to recover, leading to his recent misfortune inside the Octagon.

“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.”

UFC CEO Dana White has admitted he’s interested in booking an event for Spain featuring Ilia Topuria. It’ll be interesting to see if Volkanovski gets an immediate rematch.