At UFC 284, it was a battle of world champions as featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski faced the lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev. It was a close fight, with Islam Makhachev taking the decision win. Former two-division world champion Daniel Cormier has little interest in a rematch between these two.
On his podcast, DC&RC the UFC hall of fame athlete explained his point of view on a potential rematch:
“I don’t necessarily know if I need to see a rematch right away. I think what Alexander Volkanovski did was good. I don’t know if Islam needs to run it back right now because the reality is he won the fight.”
No rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev
Daniel Cormier was highly impressed with the work from the UFC featherweight world champion Alexander Volkanovski, he added:
“People always seem to want to discredit Alexander Volkanovski. Not anymore… This guy has more belief in himself than any fighter I’ve seen in a really long time, and he should because he has the fighting ability to compete against anyone.”
On the ongoing pound-for-pound debate, Cormier said:
“There’s a world in which, at the end of this, Volkanovski could still be the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world because pound-for-pound says, does your fighting style translate between weight classes? It showed on Saturday that his fighting style does translate between weight classes.” [Transcript courtesy of Middle Easy]
UFC 284 saw two world champions put it all on the line over a five-round war. Dagestan’s Islam Makhachev was getting the better of Australia’s Volkanovski on the feet and struggled to impose any of his world-class grappling skills. Alexander Volkanovski was able to repel his Russian opponent and earn moments of control plus ground and pound throughout the fight. Both men will most likely next defend their divisional crowns rather than fight each other again.
See the full podcast below: