Alexander Volkanovski has admitted he doesn’t care ‘one bit’ about being champion ahead of his next fight at UFC 333.Volkanovski is out to prove he’s the best in the world yet again when he faces undefeated Russian featherweight Movsar Evloev in the main event of the Abu Dhabi show on October 24.Volkanovski became the first fighter in UFC history to claim gold after back-to-back KO defeats when he beat Lopes in April 2025GettyLast time out in January, Volkanovski defended the featherweight title in a rematch with Diego Lopes at UFC 325, having reclaimed his old belt against the Brazilian nine months prior.By reclaiming the belt, the 38-year-old from Australia made history as the first male over 35 to win a UFC title in the lighter weight classes and the first in promotional history to claim gold after two consecutive knockout losses.It was a remarkable achievement for Volkanovski, aptly nicknamed ‘The Great,’ but not one he says has provided any motivation ahead of his 12th consecutive title fight.Volkanovski: I don’t need UFC titles“I really did notice after winning the title against Lopes that I really don’t care about the belt and stuff like that — it’s hard to explain,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel this week.View Tweet: https://x.com/hashtag/UFC333?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw“Me accomplishing that at that age, coming off KO losses and all that, that was massive. I’m glad I was able to overcome that and send good messages.“But the belt, I was quite disappointed afterwards because I thought now I’m so much more confident in who I am, I was saying in the lead-up to that fight, ‘I can’t wait to win this and finally appreciate being a champion.’“And then I’ve come to realise that I did not care one bit. So I was a little disappointed that I was disappointed, if that makes sense?“It was weird… but at least I know I don’t care about that, I don’t need any of that.”Volkanovski had suffered back-to-back KO defeats to Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria before his first fight with Lopes at UFC 314.Prior to that, the only defeat of his UFC career had come against Makhachev when the pair first met in February 2023.Volkanovski is still highly motivated by his love for the sport aged 38 and believes he can go out and show people he is the best featherweight in the world again at UFC 333GettyHaving gone undefeated in 12 fights at featherweight, Volkanovski, 28-4 in MMA, was attempting to become a two-division champion against Makhachev but fell to a close unanimous decision.Winning the featherweight belt back against Lopes, however, proved Volkanovski was very much still at the peak of his powers.Now ahead of UFC 333, fans may be worried Volkanovski has lost his drive because he doesn’t care about his belt.But addressing that exact question, the champion revealed quite the opposite.Volkanovski hasn’t lost any drive at 38“I’m not that guy,” Volkanovski said.“If I take a fight, I’m going to train harder than anyone. Even if these guys think they want it more than me, I guarantee I’m working harder than them.‘The Great’ believes his IQ and experience will get him over the line against Evloev at UFC 333Getty“That’s just who I am. If I do it I do it properly. I’ll do whatever it takes. I guess I’m lucky to be that guy. Trust me, I’m always putting the work in.“People are going to keep bringing up the age and all that stuff. I’ll be honest, am I the same guy I was at 33 or 32 years old? No. But when you’ve got the IQ and experience that I have, I can go out there and do that and make people think I’m still the same guy that I was.“I truly believe I can still go out and make it look like I’m the same guy. I’m not in my prime, but do I believe I’m still the best? Yes. And I think I’m going to show that again.”Should Volkanovski defeat Evloev, he will surpass Jose Aldo‘s eight title fight wins for the most in featherweight history.Evloev, meanwhile, can take his professional MMA record to 21-0 with a victory and 11-0 in the UFC.He secured his title shot by defeating Lerone Murphy at UFC London seven months ago and has long promised he will one day be champion.talkSPORT's UFC pound-for-pound rankingstalkSPORT.com has collectively voted on the best fighters to form a regularly updated UFC pound-for-pound (P4P) rankings system for the rest of 2026 and beyond.Our P4P list will be updated regularly based on performances in the Octagon — with wins, records, title wins and defences, calibre of opponents, methods of victory and much more all determining who makes it.UFC champions Islam Makhachev, Joshua Van and Sean Strickland feature – but big stars such as Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall miss out.