The featherweight UFC champion Alexander Volkanovski moved up to the lightweight division in his quest to become the first Australian double-weight UFC champion. However, he came short against the Dagestani Islam Makhachev, a prodigy of the UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Although ‘The Great’ displayed the heart of a warrior against Makhachev, he lost the fight via a unanimous decision. However, it was billed controversial as many fans believed Volkanovski won the bout. Even though ‘The Great’ lost the fight, he completely reversed the prediction of Khabib Nurmagomedov about his performance.
What did Khabib Nurmagomedov say about Alexander Volkanovski before the fight?
In the lead-up to this champion vs. champion bout, Khabib Nurmagomedov was very confident about the performance of his close friend, Islam Makhachev. In an interview with ESPN, Nurmagomedov explained how the fight would go.
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‘The Eagle’ was pretty confident that Makhachev will dominate the Australian fighter. Nurmagomedov said that Makhachev will clinch Volkanovski and strike him with vicious knees. He also added that the lightweight champion will take ‘The Great’ to the mat and choke him out to end the fight.
The Russian MMA legend was also of the opinion that despite the preparations, Volkanovski won’t be able to do much. However, nothing of the sort happened in the bout. Although Makhachev landed very strong knees in the bout and had his moment, he wasn’t able to dominate ‘The Great’ on the ground.
Volkanovski displayed a very strong ground defense against the Dagestani and took the fight to a distance. However, his performance just wasn’t enough for the judges and he lost via a unanimous decision.
What can be next for ‘The Great’?
As Volkanovski lost his lightweight title fight, he will be back in his featherweight division. It is interesting to note that this was Volkanovski’s first-ever UFC loss, which came at 155 lbs. However, he is still undefeated in the featherweight division.
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In the co-main event of UFC 284, Mexican featherweight fighter Yair Rodriguez won the UFC interim championship by defeating Josh Emmett. Thus, it is very likely that he will unify his title against Volkanovski. However, after the success of Volkanovski vs. Makhachev, a rematch is also a possibility, as the Aussie was very interested in it.
Do you guys want to see Alexander Volkanovski defend the featherweight belt next? Or do you want to see a rematch between him and Makhachev?
