#ufc284

That was everything you could have possibly hoped for in a fight like this. Two of the best fighters in the sport pushing one another to do things we have never seen them do and putting them in positions we have never seen them in.

Alexander Volkanovski went out there and showed he is indeed a fucking tank of a human being. Makhachev, try as he might, struggled to get Volk down. And when he did, he just could not get anything done to him. He spent 3 minutes on Volk’s back in that 4th round just eating punches because Volk has no neck and is too strong to choke. But Volk then comes out and drops Islam clean in that last 90 seconds of the 5th round, potentially down 3-1 on the scorecards. 

But Islam. Oh my god. Showed otherworldly toughness. Dude got hurt multiple times in this fight and managed to survive. BUT ALSO, he HURT Volk. Dropped in in the 2nd round for a split second. And going beyond that, his kickboxing skills were on full display. As Volk seemed to think he would just be able to bully Islam on the feet, he did not prepare any of his tools the way we’ve seen him do against 145ers. Islam made him pay. Beautiful counter knees as Volk closed distance with his big movements. Had a few really nice kicks to the body (and a couple upstairs that kept Volk honest). Hell, he even had a better use of the jab than Volk did in this one. And like I said, he was tagging Volk with that left hand from southpaw all night. Islam fought the fight Volk wanted to have and came out better than most people thought he would.

I have critiques of both guys, especially Volk who fought a very atypical fight. No jab, lots of explosive movements that were not disguised well, and looked thoroughly under-prepared for a southpaw. His best offensive weapon, the jab, was non-existent. But that’s just high level fighting. Sometimes things are just taken away from you by circumstance.

LOMA SUBMISSION! LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Fine fight. That’s a robbery. Tukhugov won that.

You have guys who just straight up disappear for years on end (Yair, Ortega, Magomedsharipov). Some guys only fight once a year (Allen). You have guys who have several years of their careers beaten out of them because they were forced to have title contender bouts with Max Holloway (Kattar). People love Max Holloway so much he got a third fight against Volk despite losing twice already. As a result, the contender scene has stagnated greatly over the past 3-4 years and we’re left with weird situations.

And to top it all off, many of the contender fights we do get have these bizarre finishes or rhythms to them. Like Calvin Kattar destroying his knee trying to throw a flying knee against Arnold Allen and landing weird. Or Brian Ortega dislocating his shoulder one minute into a fight with Yair Rodriguez. Hell, the Emmett-Kattar fight even felt more like a fight that Kattar lost than Emmett won. And now the champ is fighting for the title a division up.