UFC 273 takeaways -- Can anyone beat Volkanovski? Is Sterling the UFC's next heel?

Alexander Volkanovski said he felt better than ever. He said his self-belief was at an all-time high. He said he would stop Chan Sung Jung. And so it proved on Saturday night in Jacksonville.

The Australian turned in a thoroughly dominant display, feeding Chan Sung Jung with a series of heavy shots to the head and body, and even worked in a takedown for good measure.

Jung had no answer.

Now the time has come for Volkanovski to defend on home soil. It has been more than four years since he has had the pleasure of fighting in Australia, the last time coming in Perth in February 2018, and his star power is as bright as ever. This is a fighter at the absolute top of his game, one of the best pound-for-pound in the UFC, and he now deserves the chance to fight on home soil, where he is among Australia's elite athletes.

Volkanovski told ESPN in the lead-up that he was aware of talk of another event in Melbourne towards the end of the year, and there is no one more deserving of the headline spot for an event over 50,000 fans would attend.

Could the occasion get to him? Unlikely. Hard work and discipline are the cornerstones of Volkanovski's success, a trait that endears him to his countrymen.

«It's just drive, drive to be better, always be better everywhere,» he said inside the Octagon after the fight. «You can be better everywhere.

»Have that drive, that motivation, and keep looking for ways to improve, it's that easy...I'm not the most athletically gifted guy, hard work and drive got me to where I am, and look what I'm doing."

Hopefully, that will include fighting Down Under before the year is out. That, and the UFC finding a worthy challenger to the 145-pound throne. — Sam Bruce

Aljamain Sterling is the legitimate UFC