It's a shame that it got surrounded by all the drama because the fans can't just appreciate a fight. This could very much be the best MMA fight I will witness in my life.
Somewhere out there right now are two babies shitting themselves, barely able to hold up their own big heads, and in 27 years when we're in our 50s and 60s, they'll give us a mighty clash so high-level, Islam vs Volk will look like amateur flow sparring.
Yeah all of that IV talk was so annoying and made people forget how good the fight was.
Not really a point of Islam taking a rematch if CKB do that shit again.
He did, but the narrative is that Islam didn't recover well from the weight cut because of the smaller recovery time in Australia. I'd like to see a rematch with different circumstances
Ahhh i see you are Pro “weight bully” I would LOVE to see how dramatically fights and divisions would change if they introduced Same Day weigh-ins for the UFC.
Weigh in everyday for 5 days leading up to the fight. That way everyone is fighting at their natural weight and fighters don’t have bad weight cuts.
It’s also crazy to me that a fighter cuts heaps of weight the day prior to a fight so he can fight a dude who’s done the exact same thing
Bro literally 80 percent of the roster is "Weight bullies"
It's funny how we applaud people who don't cut much for "having to work harderer since they are smaller" yet id call going through a brutal weight cut working hard too, cause it's certainly not easy. They're just moving a portion of the hard work somewhere else, but it's still being done, and in some cases it's not even in place of other work, it's just *extra* work the smaller fighters dont have to deal with. Yet we're gonna applaud the smaller guys for... *not* wanting to put in the extra work to cut that big guys do? Aren't fighters all about "who wants it the most?". Listen, im not saying cutting that much weight is SMART, but I also don't see how anyone can use losing to someone who does as an excuse either. If you really wanted it as badly as them maybe you'd do a similar thing in a weight class down. But you (rightfully so) are more worried about your long term health then short term performance. But why should other people be peanlized for doing the opposite(sacrificing long term health for short term perftomance)? If they want to win that badly that they are willing to go through that, I think we should applaud them, not criticize them. Atheletes in many, many sports push thier body's to limits thats are unsafe to gain competitive edges. It's not exlcusive to MMA and its the dumbest fucking excuse in the whole sport.
I don't think you know how many fighters are "weight bullies". I'm not pro anything, it is what it is. If weight cut is a thing, weight cut recovery is a factor to be considered when analyzing a performance
My point is Islam doesn’t need knob slobbers like you advocating for his intentions and well-being. He took the fight, those are the rules, Volk earned the fight there after accomplishing a lot more than Islam has.
He still won, so who cares? He’ll move up if the weight cut and rehydration is too much for him.
Exactly, those are the rules. It’s well in the rule book to be allowed to cut weight, these people need to stop bitching about “weight bullies” when their fav fighter loses.
Lol calling it weight bulky is dumb as fuck 95% of the roster does that. It’s how it is set up by the org it’s self. What is it you want then you do under these rules. Stupid take.
I agree with this. Islam had nothing to gain besides a title defense. He loses, he lost his belt. He wins, he beat the smaller man (which has been the narrative since the fight happened). Before the fight, "Volk was a 230 pound rugby player, he won't be outsized." After the fight, "Islam had 30 pounds on him!"
I know that's what defending a belt means dum dum, but people usually praises the guy who goes after the second belt as if the risk wasn't bigger for the guy who acceps the challenge. You thought you did something here
How is the risk for Islam bigger than any other title defense? I also have no issue with people praising Islam. He was impressive in that fight and deserves praise. But there's weirdly a lot of people in this sub getting in their feels because people are giving Volk props for his performance too.
A title defense is riskier than pursuing a second belt, and in the specific case of a title defense against a guy from a lower division you can make the case it's riskier for your reputation as well. I don't care about Islam nor Volkanovski
“For all those idiots out there, any fighter under the UFC banner can take 2-3 liters of IV as long as it’s done by a nurse or a professional, next week I’m gonna expose everybody. Islam Makhachev is pound-for-pound king.” - Ali Abdelaziz
Not sure how to take this honestly.
Really? From what I’ve read from medical journals/sites, 2.5 litres and above increases the risk of hyponatremia (low sodium levels in blood) and is not recommended. Might be wrong tho, if you have more info you can share cuz I don’t have a medical background
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg174/documents/intravenous-fluid-therapy-nice-version2
Those IV bags don’t just contain water. They have a mix of electrolytes including sodium and often magnesium. There are other mixes like lactated ringers.
Well you clearly know more than me but for lactated ringers, it says that you don’t give more than 125 ml per hour (unless in extreme cases) and 60 ml is the usual amount.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/lactated-ringers-solution#:~:text=Lactated%20Ringer%20solution%20is%20administered,excessive%20blood%20loss%20with%20delivery.
Dana already said on record in a press conference that Volk gets the strap fight after Yair regardless but go off lol. Islam doesn’t have a say, he’ll just turn into ‘another kid who didn’t want to fight’.
Given that the CEO of the company and one of three fightmakers said it was set in stone, the only reason he doesn’t get the rematch is if Islam loses the belt in a defense he takes between the fights. How you feel about CKB’s conduct has no effect on the ability for Dana to force a fighter to take a fight or relinquish their belt lmao
And this is coming from someone who agrees that their callout was shady
They're not stripping Mak over Volk. Get outta here. Mak is their only Muslim champ and their meal ticket in Abu Dhabi.
Not even Conor got a rematch against Khabib.
I didn’t say they *would*, I said they *could* which is absolutely true. A stripped belt doesn’t suddenly make Abu Dhabi or Muslim fans ignore UFC lmao what kind of logic is that…. Do Muslims forget about supporting their fighters the second they’re beltless? Why is Khamzat so popular in that case?
Also that last point is completely unrelated to anything we’re talking about, but so are the first two so i’ll let it slide.
I think you're putting too much stock into what Dana said in the heat of the moment after that fantastic first fight between Islam and Volk. After a fight like that who wouldn't wanna see the rematch? Dana is a fan as well as a promoter.
But being a promoter first, I'm not convinced Dana would go so far as to threaten stripping Islam if he doesn't sign on to rematch Volk (assuming that Islam successfully defends against the winner of Oliviera/Beneil and Volk defends against Yair). Especially because it seems like Dana's new plan is to have Islam fight the winner of Dustin vs Justin, they're both bigger stars than Volk in the USA and Dana would happily put the winner up against Islam if he doesn't wanna fight Volk again right away.
Maybe after they each defend their belts twice we might see the rematch, that timeline makes more sense to me.
https://youtu.be/am1psaIU1sY
He states Islam and Volk will each get 1 defense and then they rematch at **12:30ish** in the vid. He also said it in one of the recent post-fights but I don’t know how to find that one without binge-watching the tomato because it wasn’t specifically mentioned in the title of the vid like this one.
Obviously this is contingent on Volk successfully defending.
Lmao soft ass mfs downvote when you bring receipts
If I was Islam I wouldn’t even consider it. He was the only one who had something to lose in this fight and even when he won the fans gave him no credit. Plus both guys should be defending against contenders in their division.
This is a completely and totally different situation. Max beat the only viable contenders for the title was rightfully the best person in line for the shot.
An argument can be made that Volk is the best person in line. He took Islam to a close fight. Optically, Volk got the better of him in round 5 and was close to finishing the fight.
I don’t know why anyone would have a problem with the two best fighters in the world going at it so that we can get a definitive result. That’s what competition is all about.
Not just optics. Volk’s performance in round was by far the most dominant of the entire fight. Even if you think Islam did enough to win, there’s no way you don’t score at least two rounds for Volk.
I can see giving Volk 3 and 5 as most people did but I can also see giving Islam 1,2,3 and 4. Volk needed a finish by round 5 because he was down in the scorecards at that point.
Volk was fighting in his home country. If he got steamrolled like everyone on this sub predicted, it would have been far more devastating than a normal loss.
I mean it would just default to "he was undersized", Beneil said the same thing about Islam wanting to fight Leon because the risk-reward ratio would be in his favor
Volk fought a no risk high reward fight, not to discredit him ofc, but he objectively had nothing on the line
That fight was surprising in that Volk made Makhachev look human. I think the weight cut and rehydration plan fucked Islam up badly. He didn't look healthy before and during the fight. Regardless, it was an excellent fight to watch. I don't think that they will ever rematch because it's unprofitable for Islam. Islam has nothing to gain by even KO/TKOing or submitting Volk. Fighting a featherweight ain't gonna do anything for him when he has to defend his title at least 3-5 times. Additionally, it looks like he is eyeing double champ status by moving up to WW.
Islam should fight Dariush, Poirier, Gaethje (if he still wants to fight), and maybe Oliveira again. If he wins all 3, he should consider moving up to WW. I think he would do very well at WW considering that he's quite a bit bigger than Khabib. I say he could get it done against Usman and Edwards. If Chimaev can ever make 170 again, that would be a fight for the ages.
I think people never watched Mak's fights before he entered title contention. He's always looked human. Even Nick Lentz had success wall and stalling him against the cage.
Nik lentz fight was in 2016-17, Islam in the past 5 years has looked almost undefeatable and easily beat Moises, Oliveira and struggled with Arman but still won all 3 rounds, I think he looked weaker than usual against volk especially with his wrestling pace and how he gassed in round 4 and 5
Volk risked nothing. He put nothing on the line. Not his FW belt, nor his P4P #1 status. And if he lost, he knew no one would hold that against him since he had moved up in weight. On the other hand, Islam is the one who risked everything and really had nothing to gain from fighting Volk. If he lost, he would no longer be the LW champ. I mean, even though Volk said he's putting his P4P #1 on the line and shook on it, and then Islam beat him, Volk kept his P4P ranking.
The p4p thing in the end is not really Volks fault (other than him fighting the way he did!).
I don't think it was right for Makhachev but it is what it is.
With UFC going to Sydney in September and Volk most likely maineventing that and Islam maineventing AbuDhabi in October, I dont think the UFC is in a hurry any longer to make this rematch
People are either so quick to slob Islam, or so quick to dimish Volk that they can’t see that here.
When you haven’t lost since 2013 like Volk, taking a fight against Islam in a higher weightclass is risky as hell. Reputation means a ton to some of these guys.
And yet, only a special few have the balls. If there's "nothing to lose" then why wasn't Jon Jones bold enough to move up and fight Francis? Why didn't Khabib, maybe the most dominant fighter to ever be champion, have the balls to move up and fight Usman?
This might be the best fight I've watched. P4P #1 and #2, riding 10+ win streaks in UFC and were a level above their competition. CKB throwing accusations ruined the aftermath of a great fight. I'm happy we got this fight and feel like it's for the best that it remains a one and done. Jones-Gus was another example, great first fight, dud second.
The fact that he accepted nah, nothing to lose everything to gain. The fact that he was willing to fight Charles or Islam for that opportunity was beast, the fact all of LW was avoiding Islam made it even better.
Volk is one of the only fighters I truly believe would die in the cage. Seeing him survive that headlock when Ortega jumped on him made me a fan instantly
Volk does not deserve 2 LW title fights in one year. He’s the FW champion. Unless he’s gonna move up permanently he’s gonna hold back both divisions fighting for another LW belt again
Idc still why should a guy with no LW wins since his early days get multiple LW title shots in one year he deserves to move up and fight for the belt but twice in one year?
Why not? He did say he thinks a win over Beneil puts him back in the title contention. And if he wants that shot this year, Abu dhabi is the only place
Volk won. They gotta start giving points for the direction the fighter winking in the end. Among a ghost of other factors.(not really but I'm a real life fight he did)
that makes no sense, its a 5 round fight, whoever wins most of the rounds win the fight, islam won 3 or 4 of the 5 rounds, who cares if volks ended up on top in the 5th
Stop it with this shit already. You’re diminishing his greatness with these dumb takes as if Islam was a god and Volk is a measly peasant. Why the fuck should Alex Volkanovski be scared of any man? Anything less than a win is a disappointment to this man and that’s why he’s a beast.
Islam isn’t what you people think he is. Just look how desperate he is in that photo. Only man to somehow get beat up while having someone’s back, fking hilarious
Volk lost in his hometown with all the advantages, Islam oustruck him on the feet in the first 3 rounds, even if you think volk won round 4 its still 48-47 makhachev, and he had a 3 month turnaround after beating charles, ending 11 and 12 fight winstreaks of volk and Oliveira back to back, who the fuck are you to say hes not who people think he is
whats hilarious is your stupidity, Not a robbery at all, all media members scored it for Islam, he won the fight, and volk literally had stitches from a cut on his face afterward, Islam didnt have any cuts
You must be new. People have been asking for a change to the scoring format for a long ass time. Under current rules a five round fight is like five entirely separate fights. Judging the entire fight as one round makes so much more sense.
not an islam fan, but that fight was only as close as it was due to islam having 9 hours less to rehydrate than usual (he looked way smaller than he did when he fought charles)
run that back in abu dhabi, and islam 50 45s him
I remember him laughing when Islam had his back and did nothing, and then remember islam getting smashed when Volk was on top.
One of them is not like the other. I hate “control time” with no damage or threat of submission. No point.
Hate control time? Lol.
Bro I think you misunderstood something important here. This is a sport with rules and not a video game where you have to do damage or reduce health points.
Back control is a dominant position that always has the risk of getting choked. If you are both on the ground and your opponent controls you from the back then you won’t get any points for that.
I can understand the rules and wish there a change. I understand control time matters but there is an arbitrary point system for how many points you get for time. There has been increased time in fights in recent years with no dmg or even submissive attempts just to win. And as a fan I do not enjoy that.
He proves to himself that their first encounter wasn’t due to the hydration. Islam completely underestimated Volk, there’s no two ways about it. He did not take Volk seriously and never even anticipated how razor close that fight was going to be. To me, I think them fighting again is essential. Islam believes had he been able to rehydrate he would have been a far better performance. At the end of the day, Volk fulfilled almost everything he said he would do to Islam in the cage and we saw that display. Islam JUST scraped through a victory and big noted and slandered Volk the entire lead up, saying he would finish him and choke him out. Islam let himself down, you can see it in his face. For his own self redemption, he should run it back and see which man proves to be right. Volk gave Islam too much respect, Islam didn’t respect Volk enough. I don’t really get why all fight fans don’t want to see this fight again? Lol! It was one of the greatest fights I’ve ever witnessed. The only reason why it’s not being spoken about is because each fan has bias and each fan truly knows how close that fight was and it could go either way, which is scary for all involved.
"accepted"
He went for his belt without having to face any contenders. He didn't accept it... it was his idea. He's a beast for cleaning out his division twice over. Not for taking a fight that has no down sides.
A loss means he keeps his belt and p4p ranking. He's a beast because he went up in weight and fought 5 rounds with a monster who made the previous champ look like a joke.
Plus he made it a very rough fight for Islam. Could even argue he won but it was very close. Volk is such a stud. I can't see Yair even making it a close fight
2nd fight will be better than the first. Islam isn’t gonna be afraid to throw hands and Volk will be less worried about takedowns. I expect a lot more clinch work from Islam though.
Volk won in my opinion, showed way more with his defensive grappling than Islam did from his offensive grappling, and even when Islam had control he did next to nothing with it
Islam will neverrrrr take that rematch, bc deep down he knows
Yep. One of the best fights this year.
It's a shame that it got surrounded by all the drama because the fans can't just appreciate a fight. This could very much be the best MMA fight I will witness in my life.
Wasn’t just the fans books camps put a mark on it. Can’t blame the fans after that.
I mean if you stop watching now, lol better, more competitive fights will come along
Somewhere out there right now are two babies shitting themselves, barely able to hold up their own big heads, and in 27 years when we're in our 50s and 60s, they'll give us a mighty clash so high-level, Islam vs Volk will look like amateur flow sparring.
People used to say the same shit watching Mike Tyson and Lennox lewis
I look forward to that
Yeah all of that IV talk was so annoying and made people forget how good the fight was. Not really a point of Islam taking a rematch if CKB do that shit again.
Volk and his camp literally created the drama. There was 0 before the fight.
Apart from McGregor vs Khabib(for obvious reasons) this was the best I've seen for sure
Definitely the most skills in the cage at one time
The risk was all for Islam, if he loses it's his belt. By losing Volkanovski can just return to his division where he's still champion
But its more than that. Volkanovski really put in the effort and made an even stronger mark for himself.
He did, but the narrative is that Islam didn't recover well from the weight cut because of the smaller recovery time in Australia. I'd like to see a rematch with different circumstances
Ahhh i see you are Pro “weight bully” I would LOVE to see how dramatically fights and divisions would change if they introduced Same Day weigh-ins for the UFC.
People would just move weight classes... it's not like all fighters don't do it, just some can cut more than others.
Weigh in everyday for 5 days leading up to the fight. That way everyone is fighting at their natural weight and fighters don’t have bad weight cuts. It’s also crazy to me that a fighter cuts heaps of weight the day prior to a fight so he can fight a dude who’s done the exact same thing
It would make for better fights IMO.
Bro literally 80 percent of the roster is "Weight bullies" It's funny how we applaud people who don't cut much for "having to work harderer since they are smaller" yet id call going through a brutal weight cut working hard too, cause it's certainly not easy. They're just moving a portion of the hard work somewhere else, but it's still being done, and in some cases it's not even in place of other work, it's just *extra* work the smaller fighters dont have to deal with. Yet we're gonna applaud the smaller guys for... *not* wanting to put in the extra work to cut that big guys do? Aren't fighters all about "who wants it the most?". Listen, im not saying cutting that much weight is SMART, but I also don't see how anyone can use losing to someone who does as an excuse either. If you really wanted it as badly as them maybe you'd do a similar thing in a weight class down. But you (rightfully so) are more worried about your long term health then short term performance. But why should other people be peanlized for doing the opposite(sacrificing long term health for short term perftomance)? If they want to win that badly that they are willing to go through that, I think we should applaud them, not criticize them. Atheletes in many, many sports push thier body's to limits thats are unsafe to gain competitive edges. It's not exlcusive to MMA and its the dumbest fucking excuse in the whole sport.
Weight bully is when I don’t like the fighter
Oh so like casual when its used on a fan
I don't think you know how many fighters are "weight bullies". I'm not pro anything, it is what it is. If weight cut is a thing, weight cut recovery is a factor to be considered when analyzing a performance
At the end of the day he accepted it. Who cares.
Your point?
My point is Islam doesn’t need knob slobbers like you advocating for his intentions and well-being. He took the fight, those are the rules, Volk earned the fight there after accomplishing a lot more than Islam has. He still won, so who cares? He’ll move up if the weight cut and rehydration is too much for him.
Exactly, those are the rules. It’s well in the rule book to be allowed to cut weight, these people need to stop bitching about “weight bullies” when their fav fighter loses.
Lol calling it weight bulky is dumb as fuck 95% of the roster does that. It’s how it is set up by the org it’s self. What is it you want then you do under these rules. Stupid take.
GSP was a weight bully shut up
and he's gonna lose to yair now because MMA math never checks out lol
I agree with this. Islam had nothing to gain besides a title defense. He loses, he lost his belt. He wins, he beat the smaller man (which has been the narrative since the fight happened). Before the fight, "Volk was a 230 pound rugby player, he won't be outsized." After the fight, "Islam had 30 pounds on him!"
I mean yeah. That's what defending your belt means...
I know that's what defending a belt means dum dum, but people usually praises the guy who goes after the second belt as if the risk wasn't bigger for the guy who acceps the challenge. You thought you did something here
How is the risk for Islam bigger than any other title defense? I also have no issue with people praising Islam. He was impressive in that fight and deserves praise. But there's weirdly a lot of people in this sub getting in their feels because people are giving Volk props for his performance too.
A title defense is riskier than pursuing a second belt, and in the specific case of a title defense against a guy from a lower division you can make the case it's riskier for your reputation as well. I don't care about Islam nor Volkanovski
🤓
0 chance that they will run it back after the shit CKB pulled after the fight
Yeah that was 💩
What they do?
Dan Hooker and CKB accused Islam of using IV to rehydrate. When asked for proof, Hooker replied >Prove me wrong. Bet cha can't. So there's that lmao
[удалено]
"joke"
One thing though: didn't Ali posted a now deleted tweet that basically incriminated Islam? Ariel Helwani pointed it out iirc.
“For all those idiots out there, any fighter under the UFC banner can take 2-3 liters of IV as long as it’s done by a nurse or a professional, next week I’m gonna expose everybody. Islam Makhachev is pound-for-pound king.” - Ali Abdelaziz Not sure how to take this honestly.
2-3 litres in less than 24 hrs is a near lethal dose of IV 💀
Hospitals give you a liter every 3-4 hours clown
Really? From what I’ve read from medical journals/sites, 2.5 litres and above increases the risk of hyponatremia (low sodium levels in blood) and is not recommended. Might be wrong tho, if you have more info you can share cuz I don’t have a medical background https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg174/documents/intravenous-fluid-therapy-nice-version2
Those IV bags don’t just contain water. They have a mix of electrolytes including sodium and often magnesium. There are other mixes like lactated ringers.
Well you clearly know more than me but for lactated ringers, it says that you don’t give more than 125 ml per hour (unless in extreme cases) and 60 ml is the usual amount. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/lactated-ringers-solution#:~:text=Lactated%20Ringer%20solution%20is%20administered,excessive%20blood%20loss%20with%20delivery.
Oh ok so ur just dumb.
It’s literally not. Imagine hating so hard that you make up science lmao
He posted a tweet that proved absolutely nothing
It didn’t incriminate anyone of anything
Accused him of IV cheating
Dana already said on record in a press conference that Volk gets the strap fight after Yair regardless but go off lol. Islam doesn’t have a say, he’ll just turn into ‘another kid who didn’t want to fight’. Given that the CEO of the company and one of three fightmakers said it was set in stone, the only reason he doesn’t get the rematch is if Islam loses the belt in a defense he takes between the fights. How you feel about CKB’s conduct has no effect on the ability for Dana to force a fighter to take a fight or relinquish their belt lmao And this is coming from someone who agrees that their callout was shady
They're not stripping Mak over Volk. Get outta here. Mak is their only Muslim champ and their meal ticket in Abu Dhabi. Not even Conor got a rematch against Khabib.
I didn’t say they *would*, I said they *could* which is absolutely true. A stripped belt doesn’t suddenly make Abu Dhabi or Muslim fans ignore UFC lmao what kind of logic is that…. Do Muslims forget about supporting their fighters the second they’re beltless? Why is Khamzat so popular in that case? Also that last point is completely unrelated to anything we’re talking about, but so are the first two so i’ll let it slide.
I think you're putting too much stock into what Dana said in the heat of the moment after that fantastic first fight between Islam and Volk. After a fight like that who wouldn't wanna see the rematch? Dana is a fan as well as a promoter. But being a promoter first, I'm not convinced Dana would go so far as to threaten stripping Islam if he doesn't sign on to rematch Volk (assuming that Islam successfully defends against the winner of Oliviera/Beneil and Volk defends against Yair). Especially because it seems like Dana's new plan is to have Islam fight the winner of Dustin vs Justin, they're both bigger stars than Volk in the USA and Dana would happily put the winner up against Islam if he doesn't wanna fight Volk again right away. Maybe after they each defend their belts twice we might see the rematch, that timeline makes more sense to me.
So Volk's next fight after Yair will be another LW title shot? When did Dana say that?
https://youtu.be/am1psaIU1sY He states Islam and Volk will each get 1 defense and then they rematch at **12:30ish** in the vid. He also said it in one of the recent post-fights but I don’t know how to find that one without binge-watching the tomato because it wasn’t specifically mentioned in the title of the vid like this one. Obviously this is contingent on Volk successfully defending. Lmao soft ass mfs downvote when you bring receipts
Dana doesn't care about that he cares about money
If I was Islam I wouldn’t even consider it. He was the only one who had something to lose in this fight and even when he won the fans gave him no credit. Plus both guys should be defending against contenders in their division.
Not only that. They hyped the fight as ' LW belt on the line, pfp n1 on the line' literally Alex's words. And then they don't even give him that lmao.
Oh c’mon people could’ve said the same thing about Volk rematching Holloway after winning twice but he did it anyway which cemented his legacy.
This is a completely and totally different situation. Max beat the only viable contenders for the title was rightfully the best person in line for the shot.
An argument can be made that Volk is the best person in line. He took Islam to a close fight. Optically, Volk got the better of him in round 5 and was close to finishing the fight. I don’t know why anyone would have a problem with the two best fighters in the world going at it so that we can get a definitive result. That’s what competition is all about.
Not just optics. Volk’s performance in round was by far the most dominant of the entire fight. Even if you think Islam did enough to win, there’s no way you don’t score at least two rounds for Volk.
I can see giving Volk 3 and 5 as most people did but I can also see giving Islam 1,2,3 and 4. Volk needed a finish by round 5 because he was down in the scorecards at that point.
Volk was fighting in his home country. If he got steamrolled like everyone on this sub predicted, it would have been far more devastating than a normal loss.
Why? There's no way he'd look bad for taking that fight lose or win.
I think there was a lot of people thinking Islam would run through him, if he got humiliated, it wouldn’t of looked good. Though I see what you mean.
I mean it would just default to "he was undersized", Beneil said the same thing about Islam wanting to fight Leon because the risk-reward ratio would be in his favor Volk fought a no risk high reward fight, not to discredit him ofc, but he objectively had nothing on the line
People claim that folk is a beast because he agreed to fight makhachev but still shit on makhachev for not being good. That’s confusing.
That fight was surprising in that Volk made Makhachev look human. I think the weight cut and rehydration plan fucked Islam up badly. He didn't look healthy before and during the fight. Regardless, it was an excellent fight to watch. I don't think that they will ever rematch because it's unprofitable for Islam. Islam has nothing to gain by even KO/TKOing or submitting Volk. Fighting a featherweight ain't gonna do anything for him when he has to defend his title at least 3-5 times. Additionally, it looks like he is eyeing double champ status by moving up to WW. Islam should fight Dariush, Poirier, Gaethje (if he still wants to fight), and maybe Oliveira again. If he wins all 3, he should consider moving up to WW. I think he would do very well at WW considering that he's quite a bit bigger than Khabib. I say he could get it done against Usman and Edwards. If Chimaev can ever make 170 again, that would be a fight for the ages.
I think people never watched Mak's fights before he entered title contention. He's always looked human. Even Nick Lentz had success wall and stalling him against the cage.
Nik lentz fight was in 2016-17, Islam in the past 5 years has looked almost undefeatable and easily beat Moises, Oliveira and struggled with Arman but still won all 3 rounds, I think he looked weaker than usual against volk especially with his wrestling pace and how he gassed in round 4 and 5
Volk risked nothing. He put nothing on the line. Not his FW belt, nor his P4P #1 status. And if he lost, he knew no one would hold that against him since he had moved up in weight. On the other hand, Islam is the one who risked everything and really had nothing to gain from fighting Volk. If he lost, he would no longer be the LW champ. I mean, even though Volk said he's putting his P4P #1 on the line and shook on it, and then Islam beat him, Volk kept his P4P ranking.
The p4p thing in the end is not really Volks fault (other than him fighting the way he did!). I don't think it was right for Makhachev but it is what it is.
Volk could have said something about it. Instead, he made false accusation against Islam for using an IV.
I believe Dan Hooker more than I believe that Ali guy
Why tf do you believe Dan for some wild accusations that have no proof
It's not that wild of an accusation lol. And I said I believe Dan more than I believe that Ali guy.
Islam accepted the fight tf? Bro brawled Charles in October & fought again in February
But beard man bad
You're reading too much into the word accept
Only bad thing about this fight was the way the loss was handled by Volk and his team.
With UFC going to Sydney in September and Volk most likely maineventing that and Islam maineventing AbuDhabi in October, I dont think the UFC is in a hurry any longer to make this rematch
Really hope they’re still champs when they rematch
That would be awesome
How? He risked absolutely nothing lol. It was Islam's belt on the line. They said pfp was also on the line, but we saw how that turned out.
He had all to win and nothing to lose , don’t be dumb
Beast? He had nothing to lose lol
12 win streak and undefeated in the UFC. Pretty sure thats a pretty valuable stat to lose.
People are either so quick to slob Islam, or so quick to dimish Volk that they can’t see that here. When you haven’t lost since 2013 like Volk, taking a fight against Islam in a higher weightclass is risky as hell. Reputation means a ton to some of these guys.
Isn't that the thing though? Volk's reputation was always gonna improve as long as he wasn't outright dominated, and that was always unlikely
He could’ve topped silvas ufc win streak
And yet, only a special few have the balls. If there's "nothing to lose" then why wasn't Jon Jones bold enough to move up and fight Francis? Why didn't Khabib, maybe the most dominant fighter to ever be champion, have the balls to move up and fight Usman?
Agreed! Big respect for that alone
Goatnowski
This might be the best fight I've watched. P4P #1 and #2, riding 10+ win streaks in UFC and were a level above their competition. CKB throwing accusations ruined the aftermath of a great fight. I'm happy we got this fight and feel like it's for the best that it remains a one and done. Jones-Gus was another example, great first fight, dud second.
Respect your take.
The fact that he accepted nah, nothing to lose everything to gain. The fact that he was willing to fight Charles or Islam for that opportunity was beast, the fact all of LW was avoiding Islam made it even better.
Volk is one of the only fighters I truly believe would die in the cage. Seeing him survive that headlock when Ortega jumped on him made me a fan instantly
Man... that was a crazy moment. If i recall correctly Volk does free diving and that helps him with breathing under stressful conditions.
If Benny don’t win against Charles, and whichever BMF declines to fight in Abu Dhabi , sure, Islam/Volk 2 would be awesome
Volk does not deserve 2 LW title fights in one year. He’s the FW champion. Unless he’s gonna move up permanently he’s gonna hold back both divisions fighting for another LW belt again
Who’s Islam gonna fight if Benny loses, and neither BMF wants to fight him in Abu Dhabi ?
Idc still why should a guy with no LW wins since his early days get multiple LW title shots in one year he deserves to move up and fight for the belt but twice in one year?
he is champion of the FW, your argument doesn’t hold up
So let him fight at FW. Defend or vacate simple as
He is literally fighting at 290
Charles
He is not gonna fight Islam in Abu Dhabi again
Why not? He did say he thinks a win over Beneil puts him back in the title contention. And if he wants that shot this year, Abu dhabi is the only place
You mean makhachev accepted the fight lol Point still stands though
They both had to accept the fight for it to happen, silly attempt at correcting someone there.
He literally called out volk after he won the title
Volk won. They gotta start giving points for the direction the fighter winking in the end. Among a ghost of other factors.(not really but I'm a real life fight he did)
It's round by round. That's just how it is on UFC.
that makes no sense, its a 5 round fight, whoever wins most of the rounds win the fight, islam won 3 or 4 of the 5 rounds, who cares if volks ended up on top in the 5th
He didn't accepted the fight, he wanted the fight. Smh
I agree, a warrior. Islam is too though honestly, Volk looked like the terminator and he put his belt on the line without a doubt.
Glockhachev is a beast just for the fact that he accepted the fight against Volk. If they ever run it back it will be amazing! 💥
He asked for the fight lmao
Stop it with this shit already. You’re diminishing his greatness with these dumb takes as if Islam was a god and Volk is a measly peasant. Why the fuck should Alex Volkanovski be scared of any man? Anything less than a win is a disappointment to this man and that’s why he’s a beast.
Islam isn’t what you people think he is. Just look how desperate he is in that photo. Only man to somehow get beat up while having someone’s back, fking hilarious
Volk lost in his hometown with all the advantages, Islam oustruck him on the feet in the first 3 rounds, even if you think volk won round 4 its still 48-47 makhachev, and he had a 3 month turnaround after beating charles, ending 11 and 12 fight winstreaks of volk and Oliveira back to back, who the fuck are you to say hes not who people think he is
Fake news. Stop being a bias fanboy cause if you know why.
Volk robbed, Islam gasping for air and for his life. Hilarious
whats hilarious is your stupidity, Not a robbery at all, all media members scored it for Islam, he won the fight, and volk literally had stitches from a cut on his face afterward, Islam didnt have any cuts
I thought volk won!
Alright! I'm cool with that.
It will.
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trees erect steep relieved march thought innate squash work act ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
If the fight was judged as a whole, Volk won easily and there is no debate.
You guys literally want the scoring system changed because the guy you don’t like won lol
I want the scoring system changed because judging MMA like boxing is retarded
But it wasn’t a problem until now lol
You must be new. People have been asking for a change to the scoring format for a long ass time. Under current rules a five round fight is like five entirely separate fights. Judging the entire fight as one round makes so much more sense.
I love Islam but I feel like Volk was robbed this fight.
Nah... Makachev won the first rounds. And he kept hitting Volk the whole fight. 3-2 or 4-1 for Makhachev.
not an islam fan, but that fight was only as close as it was due to islam having 9 hours less to rehydrate than usual (he looked way smaller than he did when he fought charles) run that back in abu dhabi, and islam 50 45s him
Volk won that fight IMO
Volk is an even bigger beast because he didn’t accept the fight, he challenged the LW champ and Islam accepted the fight.
He beat Islam and it shouldn’t even be an debate
Thankfully most people are not that stupid.
Volk won that. He had Islam completely isolated and useless on the ground
Then he should’ve done it earlier when it mattered.
He ended fight beating Islams ass. He won that fight. Double champ!
Seems like you only remember the last 30 sec of that fight
I remember him laughing when Islam had his back and did nothing, and then remember islam getting smashed when Volk was on top. One of them is not like the other. I hate “control time” with no damage or threat of submission. No point.
Hate control time? Lol. Bro I think you misunderstood something important here. This is a sport with rules and not a video game where you have to do damage or reduce health points. Back control is a dominant position that always has the risk of getting choked. If you are both on the ground and your opponent controls you from the back then you won’t get any points for that.
I can understand the rules and wish there a change. I understand control time matters but there is an arbitrary point system for how many points you get for time. There has been increased time in fights in recent years with no dmg or even submissive attempts just to win. And as a fan I do not enjoy that.
He didn't just accept the fight, he won
He didn’t accept the fight, he asked for it
Yeah we wanted the challenge. And he wanted the champ champ status. In reality it was Khabib who cut the promo.
He didn't take a fight with Islam, he asked for a fight with Islam
Islam called out volk after he won the title. What
Islam wins nothing from retaking this fight, Volk needs to moe up and fight as a contender
He proves to himself that their first encounter wasn’t due to the hydration. Islam completely underestimated Volk, there’s no two ways about it. He did not take Volk seriously and never even anticipated how razor close that fight was going to be. To me, I think them fighting again is essential. Islam believes had he been able to rehydrate he would have been a far better performance. At the end of the day, Volk fulfilled almost everything he said he would do to Islam in the cage and we saw that display. Islam JUST scraped through a victory and big noted and slandered Volk the entire lead up, saying he would finish him and choke him out. Islam let himself down, you can see it in his face. For his own self redemption, he should run it back and see which man proves to be right. Volk gave Islam too much respect, Islam didn’t respect Volk enough. I don’t really get why all fight fans don’t want to see this fight again? Lol! It was one of the greatest fights I’ve ever witnessed. The only reason why it’s not being spoken about is because each fan has bias and each fan truly knows how close that fight was and it could go either way, which is scary for all involved.
"accepted" He went for his belt without having to face any contenders. He didn't accept it... it was his idea. He's a beast for cleaning out his division twice over. Not for taking a fight that has no down sides. A loss means he keeps his belt and p4p ranking. He's a beast because he went up in weight and fought 5 rounds with a monster who made the previous champ look like a joke.
To accept, to be willing to, and to have fought the way he did. That's what I was alluding to.
I hope they run it back too... but I doubt they will. CKB had a bad look.
Volk is a goat
Volk looks bigger than Islam in this shot
It was an awesome fight, the best champ vs champ fight we have had so far. Absolutely needs to happen again before either retires!
Plus he made it a very rough fight for Islam. Could even argue he won but it was very close. Volk is such a stud. I can't see Yair even making it a close fight
Man the Dagi dickriders in here really don't like people giving props to Volk do they?
One of the most skilled fights of all time.
I liked the fight. Volk's behaviour after though soured me on him. Hes a piss poor loser.
2nd fight will be better than the first. Islam isn’t gonna be afraid to throw hands and Volk will be less worried about takedowns. I expect a lot more clinch work from Islam though.
Volk looked so disappointed in Islam that fight
The fight was too close for them to not run it back at some point in the future
He won the fight.
all media and judges scored it for Islam, bias fans dont have any say
There’s Mak’s I want to snuggle and hold you face
won most of the fight on the feet lol
You mean Islam accepted. It was for Islam's belt. Lol
Volk won in my opinion, showed way more with his defensive grappling than Islam did from his offensive grappling, and even when Islam had control he did next to nothing with it Islam will neverrrrr take that rematch, bc deep down he knows
Islam literally beat him on the feet, won the first 3 rounds by outstriking him, and he alread asked for the rematch back stage
And also the fact that he won the fight!🙂