Conor McGregor was watching Saturday’s (Oct. 21, 2023) afternoon action at UFC 294 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and believes Islam Makhachev could have been deducted a point during his main event knockout finish over Alexander Volkanovski (watch HERE).
Volkanovski was stepping in for Charles Oliveira on just two weeks notice, but wanted his second chance to take down Makhachev and become UFC’s newest double champion. The UFC featherweight king certainly proved his worth in the first fight with Makhachev back in February, but Saturday produced a completely different outcome.
A more aggressive Makhachev pushed the pace from the opening bell as he searched for a definitive way to cap off his rivalry with Volk. This eventually set up a wild left head kick that connected, split Volkanovski along the brow, and left him on shaky skates. Makhachev smelled blood and move in for the final blows along the cage. It looked pretty legit and an overall performance that now leaves Makhachev as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.
However, leave it up to McGregor to spoil the party. “Notorious” was doing his social media rounds during the PPV main card and couldn’t help discuss the main event. McGregor re-posted a video which apparently shows Makhachev landing punches to the back of Volkanovski’s head during the final sequence. The Irishman also offered up the below commentary (it’s shown twice in case McGregor goes on a deleting frenzy):
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A difficult sport to ref. To stop that on a warning or a point deduction when volk was essentially out already is a tricky one. But there would be grounds for it, 100%. Would have been nail biting stuff. I’d have loved to see it happen. Back of the head shots are not good. https://t.co/AdrrmGmmS5
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) October 21, 2023
“A difficult sport to ref,” wrote McGregor. “To stop that on a warning or a point deduction when volk was essentially out already is a tricky one. But there would be grounds for it, 100%. Would have been nail biting stuff. I’d have loved to see it happen. Back of the head shots are not good.”
After looking at the video McGregor is referencing it does appear that a few punches did hit the back of Volkanovski’s head. However, it was a true bang-bang moment and not even something Volkanovski or his team complained about after the finish (at least not yet). For now, we’ll let the fans decide if this was a questionable finish.
For complete UFC 294 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.