Volkanovski Plays Movie Star in Skit With a Jab at Fighter Pay
Alexander Volkanovski is preparing to defend his featherweight title against Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 on Oct. 24, but before fight week he found time for another comedy project. The champion once again partnered with the Australian betting company Sportsbet.com.au on a short video in which he stars in a series of made-up films.
From ancient Greece to outer space
The clip opens with the obvious pun: 'The Great' plays 'Alexander the Great'. It is a reference to the recent film The Odyssey, and Volkanovski jokes that after seeing Matt Damon work with Christopher Nolan, it was time for the Greeks to show how it is really done. When someone tells him he looks like he has truly seen the horrors of war, he answers by recalling a two-fight rivalry from his career.
From there the skit jumps between genres. Volkanovski heads into space in a film called Going the Distance, where the joke is that nobody can take you down when there is no ground. He plays a spy in Submission Impossible, a send-up of James Bond, warning an opponent to watch his feet instead of his hands. There is also a Miami Vice parody titled Miami KO.
Beverly returns with a dig at Dana White
The clip also brings back Beverly, the nemesis from the 'Old Man Volk' sketches. This time she plays the fighter's tough agent and scolds him for taking part in a small independent film that made little money. Volkanovski admits it was a passion project and that he does not know what he was thinking.
Beverly then says the film was a flop, but it still made more than what Dana pays. The joke refers to UFC CEO Dana White and the issue of fighter pay in the UFC.
Volkanovski's acting is not limited to sketches. He also appears as part of the ensemble cast of the Street Fighter reboot, which premiered worldwide the same weekend, before returning to the octagon against the undefeated Evloev.