Alexander Volkov had a brand new look Saturday.
The UFC heavyweight’s large aesthetic change was in full show throughout his battle with Walt Harris on the UFC 254 major card in Abu Dhabi. Volkov (32-8 MMA, 6-2 UFC) beat Harris with a second-round TKO. And although it was a classic efficiency from Volkov, he did have a brand new coat of paint.
Volkov received an enormous again tattoo following his loss to Cutis Blaydes in June. And since he had a coaching camp to get completed in preparation for UFC 254 a number of months later, he couldn’t spend a lot time on the tattoo parlor or recovering from the periods.
So as an alternative of ready till after UFC 254, Volkov set to work (and so did his tattoo artist).
“We did it actually fast as a result of I informed the tattoo artist that I would like this very fast – one or two weeks. And we did it in two weeks,” Volkov mentioned on the UFC 254 post-fight press convention. “It was actually painful, it was (expletive) painful. He did say, ‘You wish to do that? You’re certain?’ And I mentioned, ‘I’m certain. I don’t have time. I simply must go to camp for my first time.’ So he mentioned, ‘OK – two weeks.’”
And as you may think, with a tattoo of that dimension there was little time to get well in between periods – and Volkov certain felt it.
“Day by day, he was making a tattoo and it was so painful,” Volkov mentioned. “First, for 5 days it was OK as a result of it takes all day. However the subsequent week was actually horrible. I used to be whining and crying, however I wished to complete this. I wished to go to my subsequent battle with a full-made tattoo. However it was a very arduous problem in my life. I don’t need do tattoo extra.”
“Drago” might’ve gone a extra typical route and completed his tattoo partially earlier than the Harris battle and partially after the bout. Nevertheless, that’s not how his thoughts works.
“My thoughts, I don’t like something that’s not completed,” Volkov mentioned. “I like that every little thing is completed. For me, it’s dangerous to go to the fights and have a tattoo (not completed). I simply wished to complete every little thing and go to the camp. So this says one thing about me and my thoughts.”