That was awesome. That was so much fun. I'm on record saying that was my most anticipated fight of 2023 and it even exceeded my expectations. We're like 6 weeks into 2023 and that may very well be the fight of the year. That's as into a fight as I've been in awhile. I was almost emotional in a weird way over the last few days. I've said this before about something, I think maybe it was Luke Rockhold's return fight, but I sit here today proud of what both Islam Makhachev and Alex Volkanovski did on Saturday. I understand that is a weird thing to say and a strange feeling to take away from a fight, but it's true. Maybe I take it too seriously and care too much, but I can't help it. That was an amazing fight and it's nights like Saturday that will keep me coming back to MMA for decades, despite all of the nonsense. There's so much to potentially take away from this fight that I'm afraid I'll start rambling, so I'm going to try and keep this consice and follow an actual trajectory.
I'll start with Islam and, when it comes to him, two things can be true at once. I think I can simultaneously believe that Islam was amazing and that he was humanized a bit. It's no secret that I'm a Volkanovski fan and I've been critical of Islam in the past, but, make no mistake, he was very good on Saturday. I scored the fight 48-47 for Makhachev and had him winning rounds 1, 2, and 4. In reality, all of the rounds were pretty close, except for round 5, so while I don't think someone scoring the fight for Volk is absurd, I really don't see it that way. I've seen some arguments that Volk should have won round 4, but Islam having his back negates all of those over the shoulder punches in my opinion. Round 2 was the deciding round for me, but Islam stunning Volk with a couple of shots ultimately swung it in his favor for me. The takedown he hit in round 4 was special and timed absolutely perfectly. His ability to competitively strike with Volk for long stretches was also very impressive. I thought he may struggle with the speed of Volkanovski and he really was ok for the most part. I wouldn't favor Islam against Volk in a kickboxing match, but it is definitely way closer than most people probably thought it would be. This is easily the most human we've seen Islam look outside of his flash knockout loss and while he's getting some social media pushback in the short term, I think this will actually help him in the longterm. Being an unstoppable terminator person can only take someone so far. Eventually, he was going to have to relate to the fans on a more personal level and seeing him tested like this does just that. Seeing Islam pushed to his limit and still coming out on top doesn't diminish anything he's done, it only confirms the greatness that most of us have been expecting from him. Seeing him just steamroll people isn't nearly as compelling as seeing him have to legtimately fight through some adversity. If Islam goes on to dominate in his next few defenses, I think we'll look back on this fight much differently. Islam fought very well, but the greatness of Volk made him look more vulnerable than we've ever seen before. I think we're seeing a lot of people interpret that as a weakness on Islam's part instead of giving Volk more credit. I think if we see Islam go on to fight guys like Justin Gaethje, Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier, or Conor McGregor, we would see him dominate much like he did against Charles Oliveira and Dan Hooker. Islam doesn't lose any stock here. He's still as good as we all thought he was.
A lot of people are calling for a rematch next and while you won't get any complaints out of me if that is the direction they go, I don't think they will and I don't think I would if it was my decision. I think the best thing for all parties is to let that fight stand on it's own for a little. I think a rematch would look really good in mid to late 2024 if both guys still hold the title. If both can retain their titles for 3-4 defenses, then the rematch would be all the bigger. The one good thing about Islam not really fighting any of the top guys on his way to winning the title is that they're all available to him now, leaving him no shortage of options going forward. From a pure competition standpoint, I think the best fight the UFC could put on is having Beneil Dariush fight for the title next. The problem there is that Dariush isn't really a draw and the rumor is that he's going to be fighting Charles Oliveira in May. I'm starting to get the feeling that more and more fans are growing tired of seeing the same old reliable guys get the title shots. Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, and Michael Chandler are all still atop the division, but putting those guys in another title fight would be a tough sell right now. Gaethje is currently slated to fight Rafael Fiziev next month, so a win there would give him at least some argument to get another chance. A win for Fiziev would put him in a prime position to get the next title shot. Islam isn't a guy who's known for quick, regular turnarounds, but this time was a fast return for him, so maybe he's going to be more active as a champion now that he's the one calling the shots. I would be shocked to see him before June though. I think trying to do the Fiziev vs Gaethje winner in August would be the best case scenario in that case. I sort of hope they just give Dariush the shot because that's the most intriguing matchup for me, but that doesn't seem likely right now. Dariush or the Gaethje/Fiziev winner seem like the most likely choices unless they really do want to try and get the Volk rematch.
Alexander Volkanovski was equally as awesome. His performance was incredible and proved so many people wrong. A lot of very smart people thought that the size difference would just be too great. Volk isn't even that big for featherweight and Islam is huge for lightweight. Volk decided that he didn't care and wasn't going to get bullied in the clinch. He couldn't be out muscled. Every time he got taken down, he remained calm. The best moments for Islam were when he got to Volk's back, but from top, Islam really couldn't consolidate position very well. Islam having some grappling success wasn't surprising, but I think what prevented Volk from actually winning the fight is that the striking was way more competitive than anyone probably thought. The speed gap was there, but not nearly as significant as I thought it would be. If Volk could have landed some bigger shots in the first couple of rounds, then maybe he could have swung one in his favor, but Islam really limited that until the final round. What stood out to me more than anything is that Volk didn't even look tired. He wasn't breathing that heavy, whereas Islam looked spent at the end. Volk can use the Nate Diaz argument that the only reason he lost is because of the time limit, but he's not really that kind of guy. Seeing Volk get his moment in front of his home country, even in a loss, was tremendous. Seeing him screaming at Islam while punching him over his shoulder in a body lock was fun. The whole thing was incredible. What this really confirmed to me is that these two are the two best fighters in the world right now. Rank them however you want, those are the two.
Volk's short term future is kind of set. They can either make the rematch with Islam or they can have him unify the titles against Yair Rodriguez. I don't really care which direction they go as there's no wrong answer. Yair turned in the best performance of his career and has set up a fight with a lot more intrigue than I would've thought. I wasn't super into the idea of Volk vs Yair a few days ago, but if Yair fights like that, then we may have an interesting fight on our hands. While the cardio dynamic may see the fight become lopsided down the stretch, the early rounds would be very fun at the very least. I'm just glad that the more casual fan is giving Volk his flowers because the guy has earned it. No matter what is next for him, I'll be excited to see him compete again.
What did you guys think? How did you score the fight? Who do you want to see these guys fight next? Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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