UFC 294 took place this week from the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, with Islam Makhachev defending his title in stunning fashion in the main event. Read our review of UFC 294 below.
Despite several contentious decisions made by the judges and the commission’s doctor, UFC 294 delivered some incredible moments. The main and co-main events delivered as expected, playing out in somewhat unexpected ways. Several highly-touted prospects also continued in their winning ways, including Ikram Aliskerov, Shara Magomedov, and Muhammad Mokaev.
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Read our review of UFC 294: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2 below.
Islam Makhachev Ends All Debates Against Alexander Volkanovski
After UFC 284 in Perth, Australia, earlier this year, there were serious questions left unanswered due to a contentious decision. Many left that event believing Volkanovski had done enough to claim the UFC Lightweight Championship, but the judges gave the decision to Makhachev.
The rematch immediately became one of the most-anticipated fights in the UFC despite both men having their own divisions to rule over. When the rematch was made two weeks ago on short notice, the questions surrounding Makhachev’s win at UFC 284 still existed. He answered all those questions at UFC 294 and left absolutely no doubts this time around.
As expected from arguably the two best fighters on the planet, both men were as calm as you could be entering the Octagon. The fight started much like their first bout, with Volkanovski utilising his movement to control the distance and stuffing the first Makhachev takedown attempt. However, Makhachev had made a critical adjustment from the first fight, using his southpaw left kick against Volkanovski’s orthodox stance.
Makhachev slammed kicks into the legs and body of Volkanovski, setting up the eventual knockout blow, a brutal head kick. Despite Volkanovski’s best efforts to block the kick, Makhachev managed still to land the kick across the top of his head, immediately wobbling Volkanovski. Makhachev followed him to the ground and made sure to finish the fight with his ground and pound.
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Makhachev answered all questions and silenced all doubters with an all-time knockout of Volkanovski, this time convincingly defeating him. He also extended his UFC winning streak to 13, which pushes his legacy even closer to his mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov. He has mentioned moving up to Welterweight, but at this stage, he still has a few Lightweight contenders to fight, including Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje and Mateusz Gamrot.
Following the fight, Volkanovski admitted that he was not training as much as he should have been and opened up about his mental struggles when not fighting. Because of this, he hopes to return in January against Ilia Topuria. Historically, staying active at the latter stage of your career, especially when you have mental health issues, is not the best course of action. Hopefully, Volkanovski gets the help he needs and returns to Featherweight at the right time.
Find all the results from UFC 294: Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski 2 here.
Khamzat Chimaev Leaves Questions Around His Championship Calibre
In the UFC 294 co-main event, Khamzat Chimaev remained undefeated with the biggest win of his career against former UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman, who took the fight on short notice. Both men made their Middleweight debuts, with Dana White guaranteeing a title shot for the winner.
Like Makhachev, expectations were high for Chimaev to secure an impressive victory against a fighter taking the bout on short notice and a losing streak. He opened the fight living up to these expectations, dominating Usman on the ground and maintaining back control for most of the round. With the judges scoring the first round a 10-8 for Chimaev, it looked like the fight would go as expected.
But in the second and third rounds, Usman proved he is still amongst the best fighters in the world, seemingly outstriking the fatigued Chimaev. However, Chimaev maintained his output long enough to secure a majority decision. Despite dominating Usman in the first, arguably the worst round of Usman’s storied career, Chimaev still did not live up to many people’s expectations.
The expectations are so high that beating one of the greatest fighters of all time was still considered a fraud check. If anything, that shows just how good he really is. A title fight against Sean Strickland is seemingly next for Chimaev. After Strickland’s performance against Israel Adesanya, who knows what will happen in that fight?
Despite the loss, Usman came out of the fight with his stocks rising. Many believed he was past his best following two defeats to Leon Edwards, but a valiant effort against Chimaev has proven he is not as far from his best as believed. His next fight is a must-win, and at this stage of his career, it will be interesting to see which path he chooses.
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