On Saturday night, Islam Makhachev will defend the UFC lightweight championship against Alexander Volkanovski for the second time at UFC 294. He should’ve been going up against Charles Oliveira, but ‘Do Bronx’ was forced to pull out as a result of a cut sustained in training.
The main event sees Alexander Volkanovski challenge Islam Makhachev for the lightweight belt again, after Kamaru Usman battles Khamzat Chimaev.
Islam Makhachev, of course, is considered to be the favorite on short notice. At the same time, though, there’s a belief that Alexander Volkanovski could do something special given how talented he is.
UFC bantamweight titleholder Sean O’Malley has spoken out about lightweight champion Islam Makhachev’s bout with Alexander Volkanovski:
“Alexander Volkanovski, damn it… Man’s got balls of steel. It’s a win-win situation on one hand, sure, but still. He was supposed to fight Topuria in January. I mean, he didn’t have a camp unless he was a backup fighter, but we didn’t know that. Clearly, the f*cker is still in shape, but there’s a difference between just being in shape and being in shape for five rounds. Although, maybe, sure, he’s not human. If he comes out and puts up a fight like he did last time, that would be insane.“
“I still think Islam Makhachev will win because the fight is on short notice. Of course, Volk as a fighter is very different from Oliveira, but the plan for the fight is basically the same,” said Sean O’Malley.
Of course, given that Makhachev has beaten both men, there’s a lot of tape to study – and it was clear to see that Volkanovski gave him more problems than Oliveira did. Alas, we’ll never know how Charles would’ve performed this time around.
Full card UFC 294
Main card
Islam Makhachev (C) vs Alexander Volkanovski 2 (lightweight title)
Khamzat Chimaev vs Kamaru Usman (middleweight)
Magomed Ankalaev vs Johnny Walker (light-heavyweight)
Ikram Aliskerov vs Warlley Alves (middleweight)
Said Nurmagomedov vs Muin Gafurov (bantamweight)
Prelims
Tim Elliot vs Muhammad Mokaev (flyweight)
Nathaniel Wood vs Muhammad Naimov (featherweight)
Mohammad Yahya vs Trevor Peek (lightweight)
Javid Basharat vs Victor Henry (bantamweight)
Abu Azaitar vs Sedriques Dumas (middleweight)
Mike Breeden vs Anshul Jubli (lightweight)
Viktoriia Dudakova vs Jinh Yu Frey (women’s strawweight)
Shara Magomedov vs Bruno Silva (middleweight)