#6 Alexander Volkov
Russian Heavyweight Alexander ‘Drago’ Volkov guaranteed the Bellator Heavyweight title cleared by the resigning Cole Konrad in December 2012 by overcoming Rich Hale in the last of Bellator’s Season 7 Heavyweight competition. Volkov’s title rule was a peculiar one, as he went through just about a year as hero however never really protected his belt effectively – Vitaly Minakov took it from him in his first battle since winning the title.
Following his title misfortune, Volkov won a further 3 battles in Bellator however left the advancement in 2015 after consecutive misfortunes to Tony Johnson and Cheick Kongo. After 2 battles under the M-1 flag in his local Russia, ‘Drago’ was then marked by the UFC, and it’s safe to state he’s done entirely well since moving to the Octagon.
Volkov vanquished Timothy Johnson in his first battle in a touch of an unconvincing act, yet then reeled off noteworthy successes over Roy Nelson and Stefan Struve. That set him up for a headliner against Fabricio Werdum last March, and ‘Drago’ looked incredible in crushing the previous UFC champion by fourth-round TKO.
A title shot had all the earmarks of being in the Russian’s grip, however he was incredibly KO’d by Derrick Lewis in his next battle in one of the record-breaking extraordinary UFC rebounds – Lewis, who had scarcely tossed a strike in the battle, by one way or another thumped Volkov out with only 11 seconds remaining.
In spite of that difficulty, Volkov remains a reasonable title contender in the UFC, and he’s set to headline the forthcoming Fight Night 149 show in St. Petersburg, going head to head against Alistair Overeem.
For the next Bellator champion who has moved to the UFC, move on to the next page!
