Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski may face off in a unique champion vs champion event soon.
Volkanovski was cageside at UFC 280 and even came into the cage after Makhachev managed to submit Oliveira to become the new lightweight champion of the UFC.
At UFC 284 in Perth, Australia, Alexander Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev will square off for the lightweight world title.
In February, Volkanovski will have the chance to write history on his own turf. The pay-per-view tournament will take place at the RAC Arena.
The official Volkanovski vs. Makhachev announcement was shared by the UFC on Twitter.
Khabib said in a conversation with Brett Okamoto :
“Volkanovski? Clinch, lot of knees; he’s gonna eat a lot of knees. He [Makhachev] is gonna take his [Volkanovski’s] all energy, take him down, and he’s gonna choke him out.”
He went on:
“Of course, Volkanovski can box. He have amazing experience. How many times he defended his title, everything — But, brother, this is like, Thai clinch gonna kill him. Because even if he know this, let him prepare this. How many months? Five months? Six months? This guy [Makhachev] is doing this 20 years.”
But Makhachev isn’t the only one with a powerful mixed martial artist in his corner. Adesanya recently went on Andrew Schultz’ Flagrant 2 podcast and explained he is confident in Volkanovski to the point he would bet his house on the featherweight champ:
“So Volk used to be a fat guy. Yeah. Like Big Boy Brawly. He played rugby. And thing is, when you walk around with that kind of body mass for years, you develop a different kind of muscle density inside. But even with Volk, I’ve tried of hold him down.”
“I’m not the greatest wrestler even with my frame and my leverage is hard to hold him down. He finds a way back up. ”
“He even finds a way to get inside on me. Sometimes even striking. A lot of these crafty, crafty veteran, his inside leg kick, his jabs, his hand control, all that. He’s crafty. And Islam is great.”
“Trust me, these Dagi boys, they know what they’re doing. They have their own pedigree and they’re great. But again, I’m biased. Of course they’re going to say that because it’s my boy. Boy, I truly – gun to my head. I could bet a f**k like honestly, I could bet my old house on that.”
“Yeah. Volk is just different. Bro Volk is just the kind of guy that even when he cuts weight, the amount of weight he cuts for him to have the cardio he has in the later rounds. Jordy will tell you the fight. Dietician will tell you it’s mind blowing.”