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.
Khabib Nurmagomedov has weighed in on the possibility and discussed how his friend and mentee would defeat Volkanovski.
Of course a lot could happen in between but UFC seems on board with the clash of lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski at 155lbs (lightweight) for the so called P2P championship which currently belongs to Volkanovski.
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.”
According to Khabib Nurmagomedov, no matter how much preparation Volkanovski does for Islam Makhachev’s superb wrestling, he would still lose. He emphasised that Makhachev will undoubtedly defeat Volkanovski and take over as the top-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC.
Volkanovski was the back-up or substitute fighter for the Makhachev-Oliveira battle prior to UFC 280. Even for the competition, Volkanovski made the 155-pound lightweight championship weight limit.
It is anticipated that the lightweight division will be used for the prospective superfight between UFC featherweight champion Volkanovski and UFC lightweight champion Makhachev, with the latter’s championship on the line.
Additionally, it looked like Makhachev, Nurmagomedov, and Volkanovski were in agreement that the battle would take place in Australia, the home country of Volkanovski. According to general belief, their match might serve as the main attraction of UFC 284 on February 12, 2023, at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.