{"id":462028,"date":"2022-11-02T07:00:27","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T14:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=462028"},"modified":"2022-11-02T07:00:27","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T14:00:27","slug":"alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Volkanovski refutes narrative that he\u2019s \u201cholding up\u201d the featherweight division: \u201cMy division is holding me up\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UFC champion Alex Volkanovski believes the featherweight division is holding him up, as opposed to the other way around.<\/p>\n<p>At this moment in time, Alex Volkanovski is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the UFC. That&#8217;s what the rankings say, and that&#8217;s what most of the fans say too.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The Great&#8217; has turned away Brian Ortega, Chan Sung Jung, Max Holloway (three times) and more. In a lot of ways, he&#8217;s already proven himself as one of the best 145-pounders ever.<\/p>\n<p>Now, he&#8217;s set to <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/beneil-dariush-explains-why-alex-volkanovski-would-have-a-hard-time-with-islam-makhachev-and-other-ufc-lightweights\/\">jump up in weight<\/a> to try and take the lightweight crown from Islam Makhachev.<\/p>\n<p>Some at featherweight have accused him of holding up the division as a result of this venture. In a recent interview, Volkanovski had the following response.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Alex Volkanovski on Islam Makhachev: &quot;I Wanna See How Easily He Breaks When Things Don&#039;t Go To Plan\u201d\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jK0yiI_cVsk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIf I\u2019m gonna keep anyone waiting, I\u2019ll keep the people that are waiting for a title shot. They can wait,\u201d Volkanovski said. \u201cI don\u2019t wanna hold up any divisions, but like I\u2019ve said, I feel like my division is holding me up, otherwise I would\u2019ve fought already. Even with a broken hand, you\u2019d have seen me fighting this year most likely.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Volkanovski shoots for the stars<\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cYou think I\u2019d fight every three months [to keep both divisions active]? Have I not proven that I would? I just put myself in a position that I know no one else would,\u201d Volkanovski noted. \u201cLet\u2019s remember, I was willing to fight anybody, whoever I had to, [at UFC 280] after a surgery on my hand. How much more do I have to prove it?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI\u2019ve proved that I\u2019m gonna be active. I want to fight every few months. I didn\u2019t put myself in position to make sure I lock myself in (for a lightweight shot) for no reason. There\u2019s a reason, I don\u2019t want to wait around. I want to be active. I\u2019m in my peak right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>Quotes via<\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmanews.com\/2022\/11\/volkanovski-flips-the-script-on-holding-up-fw-narrative\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>MMA News<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Is Alex Volkanovski holding up the featherweight division? Let us know in the comments, BJPENN Nation!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UFC champion Alex Volkanovski believes the featherweight division is holding him up, as opposed to the other way around. At this moment in time, Alex Volkanovski is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the UFC. That&#8217;s what the rankings say, and that&#8217;s what most of the fans say too. &#8216;The Great&#8217; has turned away Brian Ortega, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54478,"featured_media":452437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[28618,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Alex Volkanovski refutes narrative that he\u2019s \u201cholding up\u201d the featherweight division: \u201cMy division is holding me up\u201d | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC champion Alex Volkanovski believes the featherweight division is holding him up, as opposed to the other way around.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alex Volkanovski refutes narrative that he\u2019s \u201cholding up\u201d the featherweight division: \u201cMy division is holding me up\u201d | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UFC champion Alex Volkanovski believes the featherweight division is holding him up, as opposed to the other way around.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-02T14:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Alexander-Volkanovski-Max-Holloway.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harry Kettle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Harry Kettle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harry Kettle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/2b63d73ee27460b473ff175d1d273460\"},\"headline\":\"Alex Volkanovski refutes narrative that he\u2019s \u201cholding up\u201d the featherweight division: \u201cMy division is holding me up\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-02T14:00:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-02T14:00:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/\"},\"wordCount\":369,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Alex Volkanovski\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2022\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/\",\"name\":\"Alex Volkanovski refutes narrative that he\u2019s \u201cholding up\u201d the featherweight division: \u201cMy division is holding me up\u201d | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-02T14:00:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-02T14:00:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"UFC champion Alex Volkanovski believes the featherweight division is holding him up, as opposed to the other way around.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Alex Volkanovski refutes narrative that he\u2019s \u201cholding up\u201d the featherweight division: \u201cMy division is holding me up\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/2b63d73ee27460b473ff175d1d273460\",\"name\":\"Harry Kettle\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/harry-kettle\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alex Volkanovski refutes narrative that he\u2019s \u201cholding up\u201d the featherweight division: \u201cMy division is holding me up\u201d | BJPenn.com","description":"UFC champion Alex Volkanovski believes the featherweight division is holding him up, as opposed to the other way around.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alex Volkanovski refutes narrative that he\u2019s \u201cholding up\u201d the featherweight division: \u201cMy division is holding me up\u201d | BJPenn.com","og_description":"UFC champion Alex Volkanovski believes the featherweight division is holding him up, as opposed to the other way around.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2022-11-02T14:00:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Alexander-Volkanovski-Max-Holloway.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Harry Kettle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Harry Kettle","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/"},"author":{"name":"Harry Kettle","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/2b63d73ee27460b473ff175d1d273460"},"headline":"Alex Volkanovski refutes narrative that he\u2019s \u201cholding up\u201d the featherweight division: \u201cMy division is holding me up\u201d","datePublished":"2022-11-02T14:00:27+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-02T14:00:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/"},"wordCount":369,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Alex Volkanovski","UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2022","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/","name":"Alex Volkanovski refutes narrative that he\u2019s \u201cholding up\u201d the featherweight division: \u201cMy division is holding me up\u201d | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-11-02T14:00:27+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-02T14:00:27+00:00","description":"UFC champion Alex Volkanovski believes the featherweight division is holding him up, as opposed to the other way around.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-volkanovski-refutes-narrative-that-hes-holding-up-the-featherweight-division-my-division-is-holding-me-up\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"UFC","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Alex Volkanovski refutes narrative that he\u2019s \u201cholding up\u201d the featherweight division: \u201cMy division is holding me up\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/2b63d73ee27460b473ff175d1d273460","name":"Harry Kettle","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/harry-kettle\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54478"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}