Alexander Volkanovski

UFC champion Alexander Volkanovski did not hold back when asked by the Submission Radio crew his thoughts on Brian Ortega.

Ahead of the two squaring off, they are serving as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter, which airs weekly on ESPN+.

“He’s [Ortega’s] always fucken late. Let me tell you that. Always late,” Volkanovski said. “Them four weeks that you saw in one episode, was all in one week. And it only took me one week to get annoyed with him. So, yeah. It’s tricky, cause obviously they gotta edit it, they gotta tell the stories and all that type of sort of stuff. But mate, they’re doing a good job of trying to not make him look that bad. I believe, anyway. Cause, yeah, I think in that first week he didn’t even turn up to a session, I was told. And then he was late every session. I was getting told this. And then he started up. I go, mate, you’re making your team wait, that’s a shit go. But then we’re all waiting on him, everyone sitting there. What are we waiting for? And then they didn’t want to tell me. Then I find out it was Brian. So, everyone was just waiting for Brian. And I’m like, hey mate, you’re gonna make your team wait, but don’t make us wait. If you’re gonna disrespect your team, don’t disrespect us.

“I’m glad people are picking up on that. Because just little stupid remarks like that really shows his true colors. So, that’s what was frustrating, cause I was getting told he was running late all the time. And like, I’m talking anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes, to an hour late. And I’m like, who does this? We’re there like an hour before training. If we’re not there training before, we’re there 20 minutes or 30 minutes before. That’s just how we are. Every single one of our coaches, we want to be on time.”

“I got wind of this, and then I’m out the front. And he’s just sitting there, plodding along, doing this sort of stuff. I’m like, mate, your boys are inside fucken waiting. So, that’s just how I am. Like, I’m going to try to be as professional as I can. And little things like that. Some people will be like, nah, it’s just training. But that’s not how I roll. In my gym, if I’m late, my coach is gonna kick my ass.”

“Mate, who says that? ‘You’re on my time’. I just couldn’t believe at some of the comments that they were making. Like, ‘my time’ and sort of putting shit on the boys. And I’m like, mate, are you serious? Cause I go, mate, we’ve been with them one week, don’t you claim their stuff. And he [Paul Herrera] goes, ‘well, your boys aren’t doing that well’, something like that. And then obviously Michael Chiesa stepped up and said something about it as well.”

Check out the complete interview where Volkanovski also discusses battling COVID-19 and more.

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