UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier sees no sense in the criticisms towards the result of UFC 284’s headliner title fight.
A lot of people don’t agree with the result of UFC 284’s headliner between Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski. Makhachev was awarded the unanimous decision, but many others like longtime commentator Joe Rogan believe otherwise.
But for UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier, his AKA teammate was the rightful winner. In a video he uploaded on his YouTube channel, he explained why.
“Makhachev fought for extended periods of time on his feet. And for so long, people talked about ‘it’s wrestle or nothing for Makhachev.
“But it wasn’t just wrestle or nothing for Makhachev. It was ‘wrestle if you could’ but it was ‘stand and strike if you needed to.’ And that’s exactly what he had to do for long periods of time in this fight.
“He was forced to stand with Alexander Volkanovski and did very well. He had an outstanding strike percentage, he was landing a lot of real damaging shots, and he won the fight.”
As for the criticisms of the result, “DC” had this to say.
“So, the feigned outrage that was online was unfair. Because it’s not real. There was no reason for people to seem upset at the result of that fight because Makhachev won. He won the fight three rounds to two, in my opinion.
“The judges scored it 49-46, it’s just a bad scorecard. He didn’t win four to five rounds, there were close rounds. But Volkanovski won round five going away. Makhachev started strong in round five, but (Volkanovski) won round five going away. And then round three, Makhachev lost that round.”
After UFC 284, Makhachev (24-1) extended his UFC win streak to 12, as he declared himself the “best fighter in the world,” even with the possibility of Jon Jones’ heavyweight title win against Ciryl Gane this March. Volkanovski, meanwhile, broke a 22-fight win streak as he dropped to a record of 25-2.