By the Numbers: Alexander Volkov

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Alexander Volkov entered the Ultimate Fighting Championship with a deep résumé. And with four straight wins, including stoppages of Fabricio Werdum and Stefan Struve, he has proven that he belongs. That’s why you can expect “Drago” to come into his UFC 229 confrontation with Derrick Lewis with a ton of confidence.

Volkov is a former Bellator MMA and M-1 Global heavyweight champion looking to add a Ultimate Fighting Championship strap to his collection. As he moves on with his quest, here are some numbers that have made him one of the most dangerous heavyweight contenders today.

80: Seconds needed to tally his first professional win. Volkov stopped Nikolay Pleshakov at M-1 Challenge: 2009 Selections 2.

2: Victories to start his career. After defeating Pleshakov, he scored a 20-second TKO win, this time at the expense of Adam Alikhanov.

2: Minutes and 50 seconds, and his winning streak was over. Volkov was beaming with confidence when he entered M-1 Challenge: 2009 Selections 4, but he ran into submission specialist Akhmed Sultanov, who submitted him in the opening round.

12: Fights in a span of two years. Volkov was an active fighter who fought mostly in the M-1 ring early in his career.

3: Full rounds with former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez at BF: Baltic Challenge 3. He beat the veteran by unanimous decision.

19: Fights before Bellator signed him. He was 16-3, and apart from M-1 Global, he also fought for ProFC and other regional promotions.

3: Full rounds in his Bellator debut. Volkov decisioned Brett Rogers in the Bellator Season 7 heavyweight tournament quarterfinal. It was also his first fight outside of Russia or Ukraine.

9: Fights in Bellator, where he went 6-3. Volkov has a notable win over Blagoy Ivanov, which afforded him the Bellator Season 10 heavyweight tournament championship. His last two fights for the promotion were losses to Cheick Kongo and Tony Johnson.

14: Fights in M-1 Global. He made his way to the top of the promotion when he captured its heavyweight title upon his promotional return in 2016.

2: Wins in M-1 Global after leaving Bellator. His first was a heavyweight title fight he won over Denis Smoldarev. He then defended the belt successfully against Attila Vegh at M-1 Challenge 68.

3: Full rounds with Timothy Johnson in Volkov’s Octagon debut. He followed it up with three impressive victories against quality opponents, which includes Roy Nelson, Struve and Werdum.

20: Wins by knockout. Apart from Werdum, his notable KO or TKO victims include Struve, Vegh and Mighty Mo.

3: Wins by submission. The jiu-jitsu purple belt tapped out Ivanov, Smoldarev and Alexander Romaschenko.

1: Fight of the Night Award. Volkov had to endure a cut from a solid knee in the first round to rally back for a third-round TKO win over “The Skyscraper. ”

1: Performance of the Night Award, which was against Werdum. Volkov survived the former heavyweight champion’s ground attacks to knock him out cold in the fourth.

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