Reporter Seo Jang-won = UFC featherweight (65.8kg) champion Alexander Volkanovski (Australia) and lightweight (70.3kg) champion Islam Makhachev (Russia) collide, covering the true strongest.
The two will decorate the main event at UFC 284: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia on the 12th (Korean time). Pound for pound (P4P) No. 1 Volkanovski will challenge No. 2 Makhachev for the lightweight title.
P4P is a ranking that determines who is the strongest in a fighting sport that competes by subdividing weight classes, assuming that everyone is in the same weight class. Currently, in the UFC, Volkanovski and Makhachev are ranked first and second respectively. The winner of this match becomes the true UFC champion.
This confrontation started with Makachev’s provocation. At UFC 280 held in October last year, Makacheff defeated Charles Oliveira with an arm-triangle choke submission in the second round to become the lightweight champion.
Makhachev’s coach, former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, said in an interview with the winner, “Makachev is not only a lightweight, but also the best P4P fighter.”
Then, Volkanovski, who was on the scene as a backup fighter for the lightweight title match, came up to the octagon and replied, “Let’s fight for the lightweight title and P4P 1st place,” and the match was concluded on the spot.
Volkanovski, who is aiming for two weight division champions, is evaluated as the most complete fighter in modern martial arts. He came from a rugby background and entered martial arts at a late age, but his striking and wrestling skills are excellent. In particular, his Fight IQ, which perfectly analyzes his opponents and defeats them with customized counter strategies, stands out.
Volkanovski defeated Max Holloway, one of the greatest featherweight fighters of all time, three times to claim the No. 1 spot in P4P. In March of last year, he overpowered ‘Korean Zombie’ Jeong Chan-seong and won a 4th round TKO victory. It was a one-sided match to the extent that Jeong Chan-sung expressed his frustration after the game, saying, “I felt a wall that I could not overcome.”
Against Volkanovski, Makachev is a grappler. He grew up practicing wrestling and sambo with Khabib from a young age in the Republic of Dagestan, a wrestling powerhouse. In 2016 he won a gold medal at the World Sambo Championships and in 2022 he was crowned UFC Lightweight Champion. Public opinion is that no one can match Makachev in the grappling field. 메이저사이트
It is a match that can be summarized as Makhachev’s grappling versus Volkanovski’s striking.
Makhachev identified Volkanovski’s wrestling as a weakness. On Media Day held on the 9th, he said, “I have never seen Australians in all wrestling competitions, including the World Championships and the Olympics,” and “There is no wrestling in Australia.”
In response, Volkanovski responded leisurely, saying, “I came to my country and said that we don’t have wrestling.
As for his physique inferiority, he said, “I train with fighters who are heavier than me every day in the gym. This is a lightweight fight, and I train with welterweight, sometimes with middleweight.” You will be shocked,” he said confidently.
Meanwhile, an interim title fight will take place at featherweight, where Volkanovski has been absent for a while. In the co-main event, UFC featherweight No. 2 Yair Rodriguez (Mexico) and No. 5 Josh Emmett (USA) will face off for the interim championship.
The interim champion gets the right to fight for the unified title when the champion returns, and if the champion returns is difficult, the champion takes over.