Superfights in mixed martial arts are a rarity. Even rarer are those that live up to, or even exceed, the hype. The first of two encounters between the reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight titleholder, Islam Makhachev, and the current featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski, was one such fight. It was an encounter that ticked all the boxes and then some, earning the title of Sherdog.com’s “Fight of the Year.”
Makhachev was brilliant in a hostile environment. He recorded his 12th straight victory and retained his undisputed lightweight crown. The fight was a grueling five-round unanimous decision over “Alexander The Great” at the UFC 284 main event on Feb. 11. The event took place at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, where the scores were 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46.
This defeat was Volkanovski’s first since May 10, 2013. It ended his impressive 22-fight winning streak. But there was more at stake than just gold Down Under.
Makhachev was humble in victory. “It doesn’t matter how I won today,” he said at the post-fight press conference. “Now, I’m not just a champion. I’m the best fighter in the world. I’m very happy.”
The fight was a strategic battle from start to finish. Makhachev countered effectively with both hands throughout the 25-minute encounter. He secured multiple takedowns, accumulating nearly eight minutes of control time. He threatened Volkanovski’s neck with chokes on multiple occasions and dominated the fourth round.
Makhachev was able to control the visibly irritated Australian for more than half the period. This was despite the disapproval of the raucous crowd. He spent a significant portion of the match exchanging blows with Volkanovski on their feet and in the clinch.
“I know he’s short. I have a reach longer than him, and that’s why I was planning to try to knock him out,” Makhachev said. “I landed many good punches, good knees, but this guy’s so strong.”
Volkanovski made a late move in Round 5 after being cut by a knee strike in close quarters. He put Makhachev on all fours with a clubbing right hand to the side of the head. He forced him to retreat in full guard and let fly with punches to the body and head, increasing the intensity of his blows with each passing second. He connected with 52 total strikes in the final five minutes, but the finish he needed remained elusive.
“It was a close fight, so what can you do? I could have done more, so I’m going to be harder on myself,” Volkanovski said. “I was expecting to win, so I’m disappointed. I know I could have done more. Credit to him. I underestimated his striking, and he underestimated my wrestling. What do you do? Mixed martial arts. At least we threw it all out there.”
Volkanovski outperformed the American Kickboxing Academy representative in the standup metrics. He landed 70 significant strikes to Makhachev’s 57 and 164 total strikes to his 95. Despite his defeat, Volkanovski’s stock rose, but it offered little comfort in the aftermath of his first setback in 3,564 days.
“That’s everyone else’s expectations,” Volkanovski said. “I expected to win. Obviously, people are proud of how that went, but I expected to go out there and win and dominate. Still proud of myself. Still proved a lot of people wrong, but I didn’t get my hand raised.”
The Makhachev-Volkanovski superfight was a big business for the UFC. It drew 14,124 fans and produced a gate north of $4 million. The executives took note.
“You don’t get many opportunities to have the pound-for-pound No. 1 and 2 together,” said David Shaw, the UFC’s senior vice president of international operations and content. “It’s an overused cliché, but the stars really do need to align. You’ve got to have the right athletes at the right time in their careers. You’ve got to have a venue that makes sense. To bring it to Australia was absolutely perfect for us. Then you’ve got to have at least weight classes where they’re within one weight class of each other. This was the perfect circumstance where you’ve got [those] two guys, and it turned out to be an absolutely brilliant fight.”