Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski will look to re-unite the Featherweight Championship when he faces Yair Rodriguez in the main event of UFC 290 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.
Volkanovski (25-2) is looking to bounce back from a unanimous decision defeat to Islam Makhachev in his attempt to win the lightweight championship back in February, though the 34-year-old Australian has mounted four successive defences of the Featherweight crown – each more emphatic and impressive than the last.
Rodriguez (15-3) defeated Josh Emmett via submission to win the interim Featherweight title on the same night Volkanovski lost to Makhachev, and represents a potent challenge to ‘The Great’.
“I’m looking at him as a real challenger, like he’s a dangerous fighter,” Volkanovski said of ‘El Pantera’. “He could be one of the [most] dangerous fighters I’ve fought really. When you talk about unpredictability and knockout power and so many different tools, you need to take him really serious. I think I’m the best fighter in the world, so am I confident? Yeah, but I know not to take this guy lightly. He’s been dominating and looking good in his last few fights.”
The co-main event sees Flyweight Championship holder Brandon Moreno (21-6) put his belt on the line against Alexandre Pantoja (25-5). The pair have met once already, with Pantoja defeating Moreno via unanimous decision in May 2018 in Chile.
‘The Cannibal’ is confident that he can get the better of Moreno once again: “I’m gonna smash Brandon Moreno,” said Pantoja. “I like when Khabib [Nurmagomedov] said that to Conor McGregor: 'I’m gonna smash your boy [sic].' That’s what’s gonna happen on July 8th. I come for complete domination like I did in Chile.”
Another key clash on the card pits Robert Whittaker (24-6) against South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis (19-2) in a Middleweight title eliminator match – with the winner set to go on and face Israel Adesanya in a Championship match later this year.
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Du Plessis, who has racked five successive wins since his UFC debut in October 2020, has admitted that taking a fight against a former champion in Whittaker is “not the smart move”.
Du Plessis explained: “One hundred per cent I agree with that. I agree, it’s not the smart move. But I’m not here to be smart. Otherwise, I would’ve stayed in school and finished my studies and had to go work at a bank or wore a suit to work every day and did some corporate life.
“But that’s not the life I chose. I chose to be a warrior. I chose to be an entertainer. And at the end of the day, I’m a fighter, and that’s what I do. I fight. I don’t want to get that title shot based on some hype created by, I don’t even know what… some guy who has the title who’s behaving like a little child and overreacting, and now the fight is happening because of hype. I want to deserve my title shot. I don’t want to be handed a title shot. I’m gonna deserve my belt. And that’s why I wanted that Whittaker fight.”
The rest of the main card is made up of a lightweight fight between Jalin Turner and Dan Hooker, as well as a middleweight opener between Bo Nickal and Tresean Gore.
UFC 290 – MAIN CARD
- Main event: Featherweight Championship: Alexander Volkanovski v Yair Rodriguez
- Co-main: Flyweight Championship: Brandon Moreno v Alexandre Pantoja
- Middleweight: Robert Whittaker v Dricus du Plessis
- Lightweight: Jalin Turner v Dan Hooker
- Middleweight: Bo Nickal v Tresean Gore