Islam Makhachev established himself as the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world after he narrowly outpointed home favourite Alexander Volkanovski in a lightweight championship main event at UFC 284 at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia on Sunday morning.
The Russian retained his lightweight title with a 48-47 48-47 49-46 triumph on the score cards, impressively matching the Australian’s striking output, while narrowly having the better of the grappling and wrestling exchanges.
Volkanovski’s tenacity and endurance saw him dominate the final round, though it was not enough to claw back the solid lead Makhachev had established through the first 20 minutes of the fight.
“He has good striking, good wrestling and grappling skills, this is his area (home country), but you like or you don’t like, I am the best fighter in the world right now,” said Makhachev in his post-fight interview.
“It was a fun fight, maybe I could have capitalised on some positions a bit more, but hey, what can you do? Congrats to Islam,” said Volaknovski, who was gracious in defeat and will likely return to the featherweight division, where he is the reigning champion.
The new world P4P #1 and NOBODY can take that away from @MakhachevMMA ?? #UFC284 pic.twitter.com/FLoq82H05E
— UFC (@ufc) February 12, 2023
In the co-main event, Yair Rodriguez claimed the interim featherweight championship when he survived Josh Emmett’s striking power and submitted his opponent with a triangle choke deep into the second round.
“I was practising that submission,” said the Mexican in his post-fight interview. “I’ve had it before in my career, I just remembered that today.”
Rodriguez added, “It’s [wearing a UFC belt] been a dream for years, I’ve been dreaming about this moment since I was a kid.”
The rest of the main card featured emphatic first-round wins for Australians Jack Della Maddalena and Justin Tafa over Randy Brown (welterweight, rear-naked choke submission) and Parker Porter (heavyweight, knockout) respectively, while the light heavyweight opener between Jimmy Crute and Alonzo Menifield ended in a majority draw.
The next UFC event is a Fight Night at the APEX Facility in Las Vegas on Sunday 19 February, headlined by a women’s flyweight match between Jessica Andrade and Erin Blanchfield.
UFC 284 main card results
- Main event: Lightweight championship: Islam Makhachev def. Alexander Volkanovski via unanimous decision (48-47 48-47 49-46), R5, 5:00
- Co-main event: Interim featherweight championship: Yair Rodriguez def. Josh Emmett via submission (triangle choke), R2, 4:19
- Welterweight: Jack Della Maddalena def. Randy Brown via submission (rear-naked choke), R1, 2:13
- Heavyweight: Justin Tafa def. Parker Porter via KO (punch), R1, 1:06
- Light heavyweight: Jimmy Crute v Alonzo Menifield ends in majority draw (29-27 28-28 28-28), R3, 5:00