Alexander Volkanovski vs Islam Makhachev is one of the most significant fights in the history of combat sports for a lot of reasons. Not only are the Pound-for-Pound Number 1 and the Pound-for-Pound Number 2 guy facing off for the first time, but two of the best current champions in the UFC are expected to put their skills to the test come UFC 284.
Islam Makhachev carries the glorious MMA fighting style that Khabib ‘The Eagle’ Nurmagomedov popularized while still putting his own twist on it. Just as Usman Nurmagomedov likes to strike hard along with his ground skills and Umar Nurmagomedov likes to throw powerful kicks. Makhachev also likes to mix it up.
Volk is not really known for his ground game, he is more famous for overpowering his opponents with vicious strikes and dismantling them with dirty boxing. To face an opponent like Makhachev he has sought the aid of Craig Jones, who is an IBJJF world championship medalist on multiple occasions and also a runner-up at ADCC 2019.
Alex discussed his preparation,
“I had one of the best grapplers in the world put me in these positions for 16 weeks straight – a bigger, stronger guy than him putting me in these positions, one of the best submission artists in the world. So to think I won’t be prepared for that is silly. I ain’t tapping. I ain’t going to sleep. I’m getting out and I’m putting hands on him, and that’s that.”
“I know I’m doing everything I need to. I’m not putting rounds in for the sake of it. I do specifics. I do details. We studied him – obviously, you’ve got to respect your opponent to really know what they’re good at. Supposedly, he doesn’t respect me as an opponent. He’s thinking I’m going to be easy. I hope he did do his research like we did because you need to with fights like this,” he further added.
Who do you think wins Saturday night?
