Alexander Volkanovski is no longer the only native of Australia’s New South Wales to hold gold in his respective combat sport. Georges Kambosos Jr. made sure of that.
Kambosos Jr. shocked the boxing world in November when he upset Teofimo Lopez via split decision to capture three of boxing’s major lightweight titles as an 8-to-1 betting underdog. It was a monumental victory for the undefeated 28-year-old, as well as another massive win for the Australian combat sports scene, which already had Volkanovski reigning over the UFC featherweight division since 2019 as its undisputed champion.
And according to Kambosos Jr., the two may join forces soon.
“I’m a very good fan of the UFC. I love the sport, I love combat sport. And me and Alex have a good relationship as well,” Kambosos Jr. said recently on The MMA Hour. “He’s been supporting me, I’ve been supporting him, and I said I’m going to come back with all these belts — obviously he’s the UFC featherweight king and I’m the lightweight king, and we’re going to help each other. And how good would that be?
“For me to sharpen up his striking; for him to sharpen up my grappling, my inside game, when I do get in the clinches, to be able to use my weight and get a little bit sharper on that side of things too. So it’s a good thing because we are both proud and we both got to the top of our sport, and we’re both Greek as well. I know we’re proud Aussies, but have Greek heritage, so a lot of familiar similarities.”
Kambosos Jr. (20-0, 10 KOs) and Volkanovski share more similarities than just their heritage. Both champions showed immense heart in their latest bouts, with Volkanovski gutting through several nasty submission attempts by one of MMA’s premier submission artists Brian Ortega, and Kambosos Jr. surviving a knockdown in Round 10 of his bout against Lopez before rallying to win Round 11 and ultimately the fight.
Combined, the two Australian champions have won 43 of their 44 professional bouts, and Kambosos Jr. reiterated that he is serious about the two training together to help shore up any potential crossover skills that could help them both out in their respective sports.
“Yeah, I believe so,” Kambosos Jr. said. “We’re going to organize that when I get back and we’re going to do a few things together, and like I said, sharpen up. His hands are super sharp already, but a little bit more always helps. And he’s going to sharpen up my inside game and my clinch game. And who knows, you might see me make my UFC debut in the near future. He might be boxing real soon. You never know.”
Training with Volkanovski is one thing, but would Kambosos Jr. really take the risk and try his hand at MMA while he’s on top of the boxing world?
“Maybe down the line, maybe down the line,” said Kambosos Jr. “We’ll see.”