UFC 290: T-Mobile Arena; Las Vegas, Nevada
It took less than three-rounds for the UFC pound-for-pound king Alexander Volkanovski to stamps his spot as the best 145er in MMA. It was 4:19 of the third-round to be exact, before referee HERB DEAN had to jump in to stop the fight as the result of ground-and-pound. Coming after a counter right hook and body shots along the fence brought the challenger to the mat.
“The Great” coming back down to defend his strap for the fifth-time, was in absolute control of the contest. He managed to secure six-of-nine takedowns, most of which came with hard striking as well. He admitted post-fight that the dangerous unpredictable Yair Rodriguez had him work extra hard this past fight camp.
“El Pantera” did use his long kicking game from the outset, as the battle looked to be a kick boxing fight. But it was the shorter Volkanovski who switched stances consistently and applied pressure getting inside range. Both fighters wound up with cuts on their left sides from elbows on the ground.
Volkanovski Stamps His Spot As An All-Time Featherweight
If there was a question, it certainly got answered after this battle. Especially since Volkanovski told JOE ROGAN that he has an injured arm that requires an operation.It also stops a streak that had gone on in the UFC. Rodriguez is now the first interim-champion at featherweight to not snag the unified strap their first shot at it. The other three are: JOSE ALDO, CONOR MCGREGOR, and MAX HOLLOWAY.
There’s no doubt though that Rodriguez will once again challenge for the title. Volkanovski is still toying with heading back up to 155 for a rematch with Islam Makhachev might have better luck to continually lap the featherweight division. Outside the cage he did come face-to-face with Ilia Topuria; who looks to be the odds on favorite to be the next challenger for the belt.
And should the champion need to be down for an extended time, they could pair him up with Rodriuez to see what happens next for the division. There is one wild-card however. Aljamain Sterling is coming up from 135. And he can find himself walking into a number one contenders fight right off the bat.
So the next fights for Volkanovski have an array of high level skills: the force of Topuria, the pressure wrestling of “Funk Master”, and the unorthodox styles of Rodriguez. Although at least on this night, that riddle was more than solved. Now it’s up to him to make adjustments.
STAY TUNED…
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