Dana White has given his thoughts on immediately running it back between Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski.
Makhachev defeated Volkanovski via unanimous decision in their UFC 284 clash earlier this month. It was a back-and-forth war from start to finish, and some felt Volkanovski did enough to earn the win on the judges’ scorecards.
Shortly after the fight, talks of a rematch between Makhachev and Volkanovski began, including between the fighters themselves. Volkanovski offered to face Makhachev in Abu Dhabi after Makhachev traveled to Australia for the fight.
After their five-round battle, UFC fans want to see Makhachev and Volkanovski clash again following their ‘Fight of the Year’ contender. Makhachev is currently focusing on his religion and Ramadan but is expected to return later this year.
While White is interested in seeing the matchup again, he feels other fights need to happen before another Makhachev/Volkanovski fight.
Dana White Weighs In On Islam Makhachev/Alexander Volkanovski 2
During his UFC Vegas 70 post-fight press conference, White spoke about where things stand on a Makhachev/Volkanovski rematch.
“When you make a super fight, could you possibly have a better fuckin’ result than we did during that fight?” White said of Makhachev/Volkanovski. “When the entire world is arguing over who won, that’s a super fight. And it delivered. The only thing that could possibly be better than that is the guy who is fighting for the interim title, comes out looking incredible too.
“So now you got Yair vs. Volkanovski, we’ll see what happens with Islam and who he ends up fighting next. You have to do Yair…you have to do that fight. The guy came out and dominated an absolute stud that night. And then you have the rematch after they both fight again, you could not have a better result.”
Yair Rodríguez defeated Josh Emmett in the UFC 284 co-main event, setting him up for a title unification bout against Volkanovski. Despite this, Volkanovski has shared that his top priority is getting the rematch with Makhachev.
Volkanovski’s last featherweight title defense came against Max Holloway at UFC 276. He weighed in as the lightweight title backup at UFC 280 before the fight against Makhachev at UFC 284.
Makhachev earned the lightweight title by defeating Charles Oliveira at UFC 280. He’s won 12 fights in a row, including victories over the likes of Drew Dober and Arman Tsarukyan.
A rematch between Makhachev and Volkanovski seems to be in the UFC’s game plan, although other fights need to happen before that comes to fruition.
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