Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski first encountered each other in the Octagon at UFC 280. After this meeting, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam’s longtime friend, training partner, and mentor told the world that a fight between the two would not be competitive.
Khabib said his protege would drag the featherweight champion into deep waters and end the fight there. In an ESPN interview, he said, “Volkanovski, clinch, lotta knees. He’s gonna eat a lot of knees, he’s [Islam] gonna take his all energy, take down him. And then he’s gonna choke him out… Thai clinch gonna kill him. Even if he know this, let him prepare this.”
Khabib gave the featherweight champion props for his boxing skills. However, he reiterated that Islam had been doing this for over 2 decades. Khabib told him that regardless of his preparation, the fight would go the same way. However, at UFC 284, Alexander Volkanovski proved “The Eagle” wrong.
During the fight with Islam Makhachev, Volkanovski remained very active in the clinch. Even though Islam landed some good shots, the Australian native still won the clinches. He outstruck Islam for the majority of the fight. And unlike most of Islam’s opponents, Volkanovski never let Islam establish his dominance, proving Makhachev’s mentor wrong with his performance. It’s safe to say that this was Islam’s most competitive fight ever.
Did Alexander Volkanovski expose Islam Makhachev’s wrestling?
The UFC 284 main event was truly a spectacle. The fight between the UFC’s P4P #1 and #2 did not disappoint in the slightest. Even in the early goings, both champions landed some good shots in the standup. However, Islam managed to initially take down Volk with relative ease. But somehow, the featherweight champion found ways to get out of every bad situation he was in during the fight
In the final round, he even reversed the situation on Islam and landed some ground-and-pound on him. However, Islam’s 4 takedowns and 7 minutes, and 37 seconds of control time were enough for the judges to award him the win. In spite of this, Alexander Volkanovski’s fans believe that he won this fight and that the decision was a robbery.
A champion in defeat 👏
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) February 12, 2023
🇦🇺 @AlexVolkanovski challenged himself and came out better for it, you know he'll be back! #UFC284 pic.twitter.com/Qp6AE8IClE
Turns out, like Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski too failed to become a double champion in the UFC. But he has no reason to hang his head. He proved Khabib Nurmagomedov wrong with his performance and that will surely help him get a good night’s sleep.
The UFC featherweight champion put on a clinical display of MMA and laid out the blueprint for beating Islam. Fans will assuredly be anticipating his title unification bout against the newly crowned interim champion, Yair Rodriguez.