Alex Volkanovski earned the biggest victory of his career over the weekend, and he did it in a less-than-ideal physical state.

Volkanovski (18-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) pushed his impressive winning streak to 15 fights on Saturday when he battered the always-durable Darren Elkins (24-6 MMA, 14-5 UFC) for three rounds to win a unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 133. Afterward, the featherweight revealed he fought while injured.

“That was me playing it safe,” Volkanovski told MMAjunkie after the preliminary-card fight, which aired on FS1 from CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho. “I tore my intercostal muscle just Wednesday night wrestling. I wasn’t able to train the last few days. To be honest, Wednesday night the boys left, and I couldn’t get out of bed. I was sitting there crying by myself. That’s how bad and serious I thought it was. I thought I busted my rib.”

While fight fans often dismiss fighters’ post-fight mentions of pre-fight injuries. Volkanovski said the footage of what happened would come to light, and “The Great” proved to be a man of his word. City Kickboxing teammate Israel Adesanya posted it on Sunday (via <a href=" Volkanovski's dominant performance over Elkins is even more impressive given what he went through pre-fight. The 29-year-old Australian hasn't lost since May 2013, and he said post-fight that he's looking for a big test next in the form of multi-time title challenger Chad Mendes (19-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC). Check out his post-fight interview above.

And for complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 133, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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