Eugene Bareman puts Alexander Volkanovski in rare company.
The City Kickboxing coach corners Volkanovski on Saturday when he defends the featherweight title against unbeaten Movsar Evloev in the UFC 333 main event. Speaking to She Loves The Gloves, Bareman compared him to Georges St-Pierre.
He, to me, is our generation’s version of ‘GSP.’ He can hit you at range, stay at range. Amazing, because he’s short.
He can fight going backwards. He can get aggressive and come forward. He can wrestle. He can defend wrestling and scramble.
Bareman said Volkanovski, like St-Pierre, can take a fight wherever he needs it to go.
He also made a surprising admission about Volkanovski’s natural gifts.
What makes him special is I don’t think he’s by any stretch of the imagination anywhere near the most talented athletes. I don’t even think he’s in the top half of talented athletes that I’ve ever had involvement with.
He doesn’t even make the halfway, but hard work, commitment, dedication, a desire to get better will outwork talent and beat talent any single day.
Volkanovski, 38, is in his second reign as champion. After a knockout loss to Ilia Topuria, he beat Diego Lopes for the vacant title when Topuria left the division, then beat Lopes again in a rematch.
I’ve seen what the world thinks are great, elite athletes, and they’re not like him. They pale in comparison to him, so very special.
Evloev, 20-0, recently said he’d welcome Arman Tsarukyan at featherweight if he wins the belt.