Bradman, Fraser, Laver…. Volk? Aussie legend’s latest masterclass sparks great debate — UFC Talking Pts

With a thrilling UFC 325 Sydney card now done and dusted, we take a look at the big questions, and what’s next for some of the stars involved. Read on for UFC Talking Points.

JUST HOW GREAT IS ‘THE GREAT?’

Alexander Volkanovski was less than an hour removed from Sunday’s UFC masterclass when somebody likened him to The Don.

Yes, as in Bradman.

With a journalist, at the post-fight presser, asking Australia’s UFC featherweight king how it now feels knowing he is going to be mentioned in the same breath as that infamous brawler from Bowral.

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Then, tossed up other greats too, like Rod Laver.

Even Dawn Fraser.

Specifically, Volkonavski was asked, given the way this second UFC title reign has started, and after yet another masterclass against Diego Lopes, how does it feels to be considered one of the nation’s greatest athletes?

At which point, and before the fighter could answer, his manager Ash Belcastro shouted from somewhere out of view: “The greatest …”

Which is itself some debate.

But more generally begs the following question: Just how great is ‘The Great’?

Unthinkable only a few years ago — when cage fighting was banned across large chunks of this wide, brown land – Volkanovski has now punched, kicked, elbowed his way into any number of debates around greatest ever … well, whatever.

Doesn’t matter if you’re talking UFC featherweights, Octagon greats, Down Under sluggers, Wollongong ratepayers, fighting farmers, Australian athletes this century, or ever — Volk is now undeniably in the discussion.

Now in not only his second reign, but beating a second generation of fighters, Volk adds his latest Lopes licking to a highlight reel that already includes Holloway trilogies, Ortega choke escapes, even besting the king of Rio, Jose Aldo, in that same city.

More than enjoying something of a Sydney coronation on Sunday – and led by a Land Down Under walkout that, truly, doubles a thing of beauty – Volkanovski simply heaped more greatness onto his legacy.

One existing not only inside cages, either.

But outside it, there’s Hall of Fame chatter, Cooking with Volk clicks, even those hilariously self-deprecating Sportsbet clips.

In Volkanovski, you have a champion in every sense.

A humble fighter, and family man, who has wanted to be no more than the hardest worker in every room.

He never ducks a fight.

Never makes excuses.

Takes the piss out of himself, not others.

And between cooking segments, is still chalking up a murderer’s row of scalps.

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So again, how great is The Great?

While comparing fighters from different eras is nigh on impossible, let alone different sports, there is little arguing Volk now deserves a seat at Australia’s fighting table with the likes of Jeff Fenech, Kostya Tszyu, Johnny Famechon, Lionel Rose and Les Darcy.

Although please remember the Marrickville Mauler, he won titles across divisions, plural.

While long before YouTube clicks, Rose was returning home from that Fighting Harada upset to an estimated crowd of 250,000.

Remember too, the Don’s Test batting average still sits close enough to double the rest of the field, while Cathy Freeman ran OK, Margaret Court hit tennis balls good and Warnie was more than solid off a short run.

And all this too before we get to the likes of Lauren Jackson, Sam Kerr, Tim Cahill, Ellyse Perry, even Thorpie covered in chlorine.

Regardless, there is no doubting Volk wouldn’t look out of place in Australia’s 10 greatest athletes of this century – even despite twice losing title fights against Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria.

At some point too, the bloke really should get a statue.

Put it in the main drag of Windang, or Wollongong, wherever, doesn’t matter, just bronze the legend up.

GIVE VOLK LERONE MURPHY NEXT

Of all the options available for Alexander Volkanovski right now – and there’s a few – our pick would have to be the undefeated English prodigy who trialed with Liverpool FC, boxed Amir Khan and was once shot in the face three times.

Currently on an undefeated tear stretching 18 straight wins, Lerone Murphy is our pick of the two genuine UFC featherweights contenders for Volk – ahead of Russian Movsar Evloev – given a range of factors, including his most recent finish of hyped Bellator signing Aaron Pico.

Indeed, of the two contenders next up for Volk, we reckon Murphy gives the far more exciting fight.

Yet what’s even cooler than finishing Pico with a spinning back elbow? His backstory.

Like the fact that way back in 2013, when aged only 21, Murphy was stood outside a Manchester barber shop with mates when – bang, bang, bang – he was shot three times in the face and neck.

Apart from surviving incident, or explaining afterwards how he “spat out the bullets”, Murphy still carries a small piece of shrapnel in his tongue

Given all this, we’re surprised he wasn’t standing opposite Volkanovski Sunday.

Especially with Australian sports still only weeks on from an Ashes series.

How easy for UFC executives to then promote a ‘Smashes’ – or ‘Bashes’ – showdown between two warriors from the longtime sporting rivals?

Of course, with the UFC seemingly not keen on having either Murphy or Movsar Evloev fight for the title, they’re now being whispered to instead have the pair risk their undefeated careers for the honour of facing Volkanovski – with an ‘eliminator’ slated for the UK in late March.

In that scenario, Volk would only have to defeat the winner to have then effectively demolished the UFC featherweight division and perhaps move up to where Ilia Topuria holds gold, and Max Holloway a BMF crown.

SAVE TUIVASA

Look, if there is ever a hill we’re going to die on, it will always be one where bellies jiggle, knockouts are plentiful, and we all get to skol beer from the shoes of strangers.

Which is why UFC boss Dana White cannot cut Bam Bam.

Sure, the Mt Druitt slugger may now be on a run of six straight defeats after losing to Tallison Teixeira on Sunday, and in a fight that was hardly an artwork worth hanging.

But this fight wasn’t about what you saw.

But what you heard. And felt.

And, yes, we know this is a little like Dennis Denuto arguing how: “It’s justice. It’s law. It’s the vibe and ah … no that’s it, it’s the vibe”.

Yet for those inside Qudos Bank Arena, it was unmistakable.

Especially when hearing that Sunday afternoon crowd raucously cheered Bam Bam to the Octagon.

Or boo when, time and again, he got taken down.

And then when he rocked Teixiera one, two, three times in the third … man, then joint lost its collective nut.

Here, truly, was 20,000 fans not simply cheering their man, but willing him to victory.

Which never happened, of course.

With Tuivasa eventually dropping a decision to earn the longest losing run in UFC heavyweight history.

Which unsurprisingly online, saw scores of – largely overseas — narks calling for the big fella’s contract to be shredded. Elsewhere, critics pointed to him carrying too much weight between camps, gassing too quickly in fights, and looking less than spectacular on the ground.

Oh, yeah, they also said how the 32-year-old has not won since icing American Derrick Lewis four years ago.

But prizefighting has never been about numbers alone.

Conor McGregor, for example, hasn’t won in six years.

Hasn’t even fought since being stretchered from the Octagon against Dustin Poirier in 2021.

But if Notorious wants to scrap at The White House? Madison Square Garden? Even Dana White’s rumpus room?

Who is saying no?

And it’s because more than anything else, the UFC is about entertainment, right?

Sure, the acronym also represents a sporting league of sorts.

But undeniably, the real key in the fight game is storylines. That, and making people feel.

And if Sunday proved anything, it’s that Bam Bam still does that in bucketloads.

QUILLIN SALKILLD IS THE REAL DEAL

Australian UFC fans have endured a couple of false dawns when it comes to our Next Big Thing.

But Quillin Salkilld?

Yep, this bloke appears to be the punching, kicking, choking real deal.

After initially making a claim for 2025 UFC Rookie of the Year, Salkilld has gone and opened his second season inside the Octagon in devastating fashion – needing less than a round to finish gutsy Central Coast scrapper Jamie Mullarkey.

In four fights, the 26-year-old has now finished three times in the first. That, and earned a whopping US$200,000 in bonuses.

Entering Sunday’s card as the shortest priced fighter with bookies, the Perth prodigy needed only a tick over three minutes to make Mullarky his fourth consecutive win inside the Octagon.

Dominating the all-Australian showdown early, Salkilld slammed ‘Hooligan’ onto the mat and then locked in a rear-naked choke — or face crank — as his more experienced rival was eventually forced to tap out.

Immediately afterwards, the West Australian called for someone from the UFC lightweight top 15 next. The request is tough to argue against.

STEVE WAUGH IS AUSTRALIA’S UFC SUPERFAN

Australia has plenty of UFC celebrity fans, including the likes of Mel Gibson, Chris Hemsworth, Hugh Jackman and Daniel Ricciardo. However Aussie cricket legend Steve Waugh has undeniably made a surprise claim for the tag of No.1 after taking his front row seat at Qudos Bank Arena from the very first fight on Sunday.

While VIPS are famed for only entering UFC events for the top five fights of the night, one of Australia’s greatest sportsmen ever was spotted watching on intently for even the opening Road To The UFC fights.

Tugga was part of a section that included the likes of boxer Anthony Mundine, NRL superstar Nathan Cleary, Brisbane Lions premiership favourite Cam Rayner and Bulldogs pairing Cam Ciraldo and Stephen Crichton