[13][14] He decided to give up wrestling at the age of 14 and instead focused on a career in rugby league as a front rower.

[14][15] Volkanovski attended Lake Illawarra High School throughout his teenage years[16] and worked as a concreter after graduation.

[18] He also played a crucial role in Warilla's 2011 Premiership winning season and received the Man of the Match award for his performance in his team's Grand Final victory over Gerringong.

[19][20] Volkanovski then decided to quit rugby league at 23 years of age to pursue a professional career in Mixed Martial Arts in the latter half of 2011.

[22] Coach Joe Lopez said Volkanovski started training in MMA at the age of 22[15] and Greco-Roman wrestling to keep fit during the rugby league off season, where he weighed 97 kg (214 lb).

[24] Volkanovski quickly became a good counter striker with a powerful overhand right as well as a fantastic offensive wrestler.

"[26]Volkanovski is based at Freestyle Fighting Gym in Wollongong[27] but regularly completes training camps at Tiger Muay Thai and Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA in Phuket[28][29] and City Kickboxing in Auckland with fellow UFC fighters, former UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya, Dan Hooker and Kai Kara-France.

[31] Starting as an amateur at middleweight and going 4–0 before turning professional, Volkanovski has fought in various MMA organizations in the Oceania region in Asia from 2012 to July 2016 before signing with the UFC.

[34] Volkanovski made his promotional debut on 26 November 2016, and increased his win streak to 11 with a second-round TKO against Yusuke Kasuya at UFC Fight Night 101.

[39] Volkanovski returned to Featherweight and faced Mizuto Hirota on 11 June 2017 at UFC Fight Night 110.

[41] Volkanovski was expected to face Jeremy Kennedy at UFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Tybura on 19 November 2017, in Sydney, Australia.

[42] However, Kennedy pulled out of the fight on 5 October, citing a back injury[43] and was replaced by Humberto Bandenay.

[44] In November 2017, it was announced that Bandenay would delay his UFC debut at this event due to undisclosed reasons, and was replaced by Drex Zamboanga.

[45][46] In turn, Zamboanga pulled out of the fight due to visa issues and was replaced by promotional newcomer Shane Young.

[62] This outcome was controversial amongst media outlets, with 18 out of 27 media scores giving it to Holloway,[63][64][65] mixed martial arts personalities such as UFC president Dana White,[66] former referee and creator of the rules system John McCarthy,[67][68] and multiple mixed martial artists.

[72] On 2 April 2021, it was announced that Brian Ortega and Volkanovski would be the coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 29 at ESPN+ and the show featured bantamweight and middleweight contestants.

[78] Holloway was replaced by Chan Sung Jung and the title bout was moved to UFC 273 on 9 April 2022.

[92] Following the short notice rematch with Makhachev, the bout with Ilia Topuria was initially expected to continue forward and take place on its original date of 20 January 2024 at UFC 297.