Heading into his fight with Fabricio Werdum on Saturday, the 29-year-old Russian Alexander Volkov had been to every corner of hell. He’d stood in against human drudge-and-doom hammers like Cheick Kongo and Roy Nelson, losing the former (and winning the latter) by existential decision. He toured the U.S. like a two-bit comedian, visiting the kind of towns that advertise HBO in the hotel rooms. He fought in Mulvane, Kansas, for instance, Thackerville, Oklahoma and Southaven, Mississippi. He won Bellator’s heavyweight title in Hammond, Indiana, before losing it in collegiate Irvine, California.
Alexander Volkov the latest to signal a changing of the guard at heavyweight
