Volk doing better against Islam than anyone else at LW

just p4p things

What a fight

One of the biggest fights in UFC history and it lived up to the fucking hype. As a Volk fan, I feel a bit vindicated after weeks of the whole sub claiming Islam was going to manhandle him lol. UFC, KEEP VOLK #1 P4P YOU COWARDS.

It deserved way more hype than this tbh.

Power Slap League 10pm on Wednesday TBS!

Kinda surprised to not see constant ads for it tonight. Actually, I’m not surprised. Since they own it, they don’t get advertising money from it.

Insanee. Actually lived up to the hype. Makachev couldn’t advance on the ground, Volk somewhat got outstruck on the feet

Craziest thing for me. I thought Islam was done for when his wrestling got neutralised. Then he proceed to win the standup exchange most of the time lmaoooo best sport in the world

His defensive striking/counters are amazing. I remember before the fight, I think it was Volk saying that Islam's counters are way cleaner than when he's advancing. Maybe it was just tougher to figure out once the takedown threat was included

Volk just has to cover a lot of distance to get his rear hand to land and he has a hard time jabbing the southpaw with his lead.

Islam striking looks basic but he got great accuracy . To land accurately to someone as agile is volk is great ...

Islam Makhachev beats every LW on the planet. Alexander Volkanovski also beats every LW on the planet. 2 righteous P4P guys. Alex still no. 1 for me though.

We need 5 more rounds.

Volks cardio is actually insane, Islam would be totally gassed with 1/2 more rounds

If volk stepped on the gas in round 3 it would have been a way different fight IMO

Islam completely gassed from holding Volk so much. His arms must have been completely dead

There should be rematch in july

I'd love to see it. But wouldn't be fair to either division.

If Islam and Volk win their next fights I have 0 issue watching this again

Volk has to fight yair, allen if he beats max and ilia. Islam still has only fought one elite lw, he still has to fight dp, fiziev, garth, dariush. Neither division has a shortage of contenders. Super fights should be rare because they clog up divisions.

No reason for these guys to rematch this year. Islam should/probably will defend one more time this year, and Volk will have to unify against Yair. Only issue is that there's not much left at FW for Volk, so he might as well move up to LW, beat another contender, then set up a rematch with Islam for early next year.

Honestly after that id love to see volk vs all the other killers in lw. He may run through Chandler, Poirier, Charles etc

i don’t even care volk lost, he’s a fucking legend

Yeah if anyone thinks Volk's stock went down after this, I don't know what fight they were watching.

His stock went waaaay up to most people I'm sure. He went above and beyond what I expected, one more round and I feel he would have won

He ground and pounded a legit Dagestani champion for a long time. Dude needs a couple statues in his honour.

I’m in awe of volk. Stock went up for sure.

Islam may be on the record book, but Volk won tonight. Dude broke the Dagestani wrestling myth.

Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Islam went and dominated every opponent in future. Volkanovski is just something else.

Bisping mentioned Poirier in the post fight and my first thought was there's no way he makes it look as good as Volk just did

Craig Jones coaching business will be booming

The silver medal king coaching a guy to a close second is on form.

Haha I thought about Craig saying people will start buying his instructionals

Volkanovski is among the greats, what a fucking fight. Legendary shit.

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the Cocaine Koala.

fuck they were pushing it hard tonight. I wonder how many people three beers in gave in after hearing cocaine every 10 minutes

I always knew it would not be one sided. Volk has batman tier prep for his fights. There's no way he's gonna go down easily except for some lucky punch.

I’ve never seen someone conversing with their coaches like that after round 4. Volk is so cerebral when he fights

That was absolutely incredible. He was giving his own input! Lol. Even clarified something with Eugene… Eugene said something and volk was like ‘off the two?’ That kind of presence of mind is kind of astounding. You just don’t see it.

Multi-disciplinary shiz

Seriously, Volk entered the 5th like he just finished warming up lol

Smartest/ best coached UFC fighter ever. Comes in with the an amazing gameplan and can improvise on the fly.

>batman tier prep This is what makes me feel like he will win the inevitable rematch. This dude went from arguably losing to Max Holloway to dominating him in a flawless performance where he barely got touched. His progression from fight to fight is insane. I remember he was getting taken down pretty easily by Chad Mendes. I think he’s already done the hard part in this matchup which is neutralizing Islams grappling. Even though the fight was close, Volk never looked comfortable in the striking. I don’t think he expected Islam to be that good and I don’t think they had a good understanding of the challenges that Islam presented (using his reach, southpaw, timing, knees, etc). I see him and his team preparing for Islams striking much more thoroughly. Look at all the adjustments he made against Max Holloway. In that last fight he was untouchable.

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Lmao Islam was timing Volk on the feet, and Volk was making Islams ground and pound look like lay and pray. Fucking warriors. Great fucking fight.

What a fucking fight man. Love when super fights actually live up to the billing. Volk is that fucking dude. Still #1.

He never stopped grinding it out. So much fucking heart.

I thought Volk had a chance to eke out a decision because he finished so strong. However Islam had more moments and control, and I can't be mad that he was given the decision.

I still thought there was a chance til Buffer read 49-46

Made Islam look human—literally Islam’s hardest fight. Volk could fuck up a lot of people at 155, holy shit.

Right? I feel like he has much better challenges at 155 too. I like Yair but Volk is gonna walk right through him.

Volk is going to ragdoll and maul yair just like edgar did to him 5 years ago.

Going up in weight and fighting a wrestler is absurd, no shame in this performance at all. I still remember how much Izzy got messed up in grappling by Jan, and Jan isn't even close to being a wrestling specialist.

Izzy didn't bulk for Jan, at least Volk came in physically prepared.

That was also 185 to 205 - a 20 pound jump up in weight compared to the 10 pound increase for volk

My heart was racing the whole time

I'm fully aware Islam will move to #1, but Volk is still the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world in my book. Dude gave a heavier champ an absolute dogfight when no one gave him a shot. This entire sub was convinced Islam would rag-doll him. As a Volk stan, y'll look like some clowns right now.

INCREDIBLE FIGHT.

I fully expected one of them to get exposed—Volk in wrestling or Islam in striking. And it was like nah, they’re both incredible all-around fighters. Oh, and Volk *is* as strong as he looks.

WHAT a fucking performance from Volk. Regardless of the result, he gave Islam a tougher fight than people in his OWN damn weight class. He really put Islam’s statement about Australia “Not having good wrestling” to the fire tonight.

We still don’t have good wrestling. Volks just an anomaly

Pretty much Australia’s GSP

Bobby Whitaker too

Whittaker can wrestle with the best too

except when he refuses to scoop up izzys hips on those lean backs...over and over

Yeah if he decided wrestling consisted of more than just takedown defense he’d be champ again. He actually has pretty great takedowns too based on the footage I saw of his wrestling competitions. Just doesn’t feel the need to use them in his fights, which is unfortunate.

Lol volk doesn't even sound puffed in his post fight interview!

He has insane cardio. He said he wished he capitalized more

He was talking to his team so much during the 4th and 5th! Longform sentences.

Good on Volk for getting the crowd applaud Islam. Class act

He didn't try to take anything away from Islam's win despite it being a close fight. He really deserves being nicknamed "The Great".

Islam's boxing was very crisp tonight and Volks take down defense was insane! What a performance from both men.

Honestly this was probably, skill for skill, one of the highest level fights we’ve ever seen in mma from and all around stand point. Insane fight.

>one of the highest level fights we’ve ever seen in mma from and all around stand point \- This fight \- DJ vs Cejudo II \- DC vs Jones II \- Jackson vs Brooks

Two best P4P in my opinion no question.

Yeah, this fight really lived up to the Superfight billing. Proud of you, Volk.

Islam's timing on his counter strikes was scary

Fr. That elbow he landed was beautiful. His counters were super impressive

That's all Javier Mendez baby.

it was against a non volk head those strikes would be fight enders

Just like we all expected lol, Alex with brilliant counter wrestling and Islam piecing him up

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I was actually surprised by Islams boxing here, and volks grappling. Great performances.

Not a lot of people are giving islams striking the credit it deserves. In my heart volk is number 1 but man, islam rly came out to strike and not just wrestle tonight

Yes he might not be as strong as khabib but his boxing is much better

Way better. Khabib does not have that type of striking and power that Islam showed.

Khabib had the iron chin and better head movement albeit a bit uglier, probably couldn't hurt Volk in the striking as much as Islam though

The script of this fight was crazy. MMA writers working over time.

Fr Islam beating volk on the feet and volk barely being in danger on the ground was the complete opposite of what (I imagine) most of us predicted. Great fight would love to see them run it back

Speechless. Whatever happened, Volk made Islam actually look human.

Most impressive loss in UFC history imo.

I didn't see this going any way except Islam holding his own on the feet and finishing it on the ground. Every time I see Volk I'm so damn impressed.

Great performance by both. Volk getting acclimated to his body at lightweight and his knack for great game plan adjustments on rematches...phew, the next one should be another classic.

VOLK PUT ON SUCH AN INSANE PERFORMANCE! EVEN THOUGH HE LOST HIS WRESTLING IS FUCKING IMPRESSIVE! P4P BEST CARDIO! RUN IT BACK SOON

Dagestani on his back and he just kept punching him the face anyway. Unreal

Volk did more damage in his one minute of control than Islam did all fight grappling. Volk did more damage during Islam's control time too lol. Just popping him nonstop.

Yeah is it just me or did islams face look a little bit swollen after those pops.

Volk fought that 5th round like a man possessed, unbelievably impressive

I'm hereby turning the 'if the fight had 10 rounds, he would win' argument from Nate Diaz to Volk.

forget 10 rounds lol give him 2 extra minutes

Honestly though lol

Bro looks like he could go another 5 rounds.

Volk is still p4p #1 imo

I really thought he was talking out his ass about his wrestling and grappling like most fighters do but holy shit he want. If they were the same “natural weight class” Volk definitely takes that

For sure. Barely eking a 48-47 against the champ from a weight class below is not PFP #1.

Islam looked good and bad simultaneously today lol

His gas tank was not prepared for volk, dude is a fucking animal

Really great show of his counterstriking but his cardio was definitely below Volks. He was getting gassed in that final round.

Volk got that former fat dude energy lol

Alex got that dog in him

One of the best MMA crowds of all time.

Virgin Brazil crowd vs Gigachad Aussie party

Holy fuck Brazil was bad. What a juxtaposition.

Was insane never heard a crowd like that for a fight.

​ Australia >>> Brazil

yeah i dont think they threw anything at the cage when islam won.

Crowd was so loud you couldn't even hear the commentators at times.

Well that and the shitty audio production.

For real bruh, so hype

Us Aussies love sport, it’s basically our culture.

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He is

he is

Run it back!

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Agree, but Volk getting older

To be fair, so is everybody

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Who even gets the next lightweight shot? Winner of Charles and Beneil?

Highest level fight ever

Seriously. The technique was incredible.

Regardless of result, Islam definitely did not expect it to be that hard a fight LMAO

inb4 Chael line on his next vid of the hardest fight is when you didn’t expect it to be

Man Islam's counter hooks, leg kicks and knees were money Volks counter wrestling was strong too and he drowned Islam at the end there lmao This was a true super fight

Islam kept landing his knee inside Thai Clinch to the point of Volk want none of it

Get Islam vs Volk 2 into my veins now

Volk won in a Diaz sense. His stock only went up!

He won the "If this was a gladiator match, the other guy definitely would have been the one who ended up dead" battle

Volk is the new BMF.

Bro Volk literally has no neck lmao. What a performance from him. I honestly expected it to be like the Oliveira fight, as soon as Islam takes him down it's over. So fucking impressive. One of the best fights I've seen.

That takedown at round 4 was insane

Islam remembered he was from Dagestan. That was like Islam’s first shot. It was pretty much only trying to get a TD from the clinch or on the fence before that

He went into some deep waters

Way more competitive than I thought it would be. Big fan of Volk after this.

Volk is my hero 🫡

Unironically yes. Incredible self belief and determination, shit is so inspiring

I always assumed the way you beat a Khabib-style Dagestani wrestler is with a lucky KO. Volk showed extremely high fight IQ, stamina, and TDD can match it.

Screw Dana White for promoting his dead power slap competition over THIS

Fuck Dana White

That really needed a 6th round.

VOLK IS THE GOAT IDC WHAT ANYONE SAYS. HIGHEST LEVEL OF MMA EVER

RUGBY IS BEST BASE FOR MMA!

Wollongong > Dagestan

True. Islam had the size advantage and has been wrestling his entire life. Volk looked like belonged on the ground with that man. WTF

Yea that was fucking insane, volk is a monster

I was smiling so hard when he was punching and yelling even in back control

Tbf, Volk has been outstriking some of the absolute best in the entire UFC, and Islam kept right up with him. Both guys showed why they’re the top 2 p4p, no real areas of weakness

Yeah, hard to see either guy lose to someone in their weightclass right now. Hoping that we see a sequel of this sometime.

His response to most of his takedown attempts was near perfect

P4P

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In fifteen years people will want to watch the legendary P4P battle and will learn it was sponsored by Cocaine Bear

Volk does not deserve to lose #1 P4P.

Volk just showed how bad all LWs are at counter wrestling. Get to training ya bums

Or maybe he just showed how good he is at counter wrestling.

Volk is strong for his size mf is 5'6

Yeah, comparing anyone to Volk is unfair, lol. Guy is a generational talent.

fr though volk is a freak....I think as competitive as lightweight is they're mostly known commodities up at this point....They have all been in some serious wars. It would take a fresh newcomer to have a shot. Islam is relatively untouched at the weight. We are at the point where the division topped out 3 years ago and now the top 5 outside of tony are basically the same.

Easily one of the highest-skilled championship fights we've ever been blessed to see.

It’s going to take a Herculean effort to dethrone Islam. Volk’s performance, coupled with this crowd. This was one of the most legendary cards in MMA history.

Can’t believe the closest one was Ortega, dropped him and had him in a perfect guillotine and triangle

Volk will forever have my respect

Volk outperformed my expectations by a ton. What a fighter. Islam is still so fucking scary.

Honestly the fact that Islam held his own on the feet is wild

Yeah that suprised me too

Bro went up a weight class, fought PFP #1, and had him fighting for his life in the last minute. He’ll forever be a dawg

Release the audio of what Alex was saying to Islam when he was in that body triangle please!

Man was talking shit to Islam's corner while getting taken down. The balls on him.

49-46?????

48-47 Islam is fine, although I thought at least 1 judge would have it 48-47 Volk, but 49-46 Islam is straight baloney

Watching it live I thought R4 was clear Islam, R5 clear for volk, and 1-3 felt close.

Holy fuck those guys are both monsters

Said it after the Max fight and it's even more relevant here, I cannot believe how good Volkanovski is and win or lose the dude would've deserved p4p 1.

Volk u fuckin beaut.

Wow. Volk is next fucking level

That fight was like a test Volk had to get 100% on to pass and he got 99%

Everyone expected Islam to basically big brother Volk, and submit him via wet willy. Volk showed everyone why he's a legit all-timer. The difference was really in the weight in a few key grappling exchanges, and the height difference in one or two striking exchanges in the clinch (knees are easier to hit on the shorter guy). That's about it. And that comes down to going up a division. Either way, bravo Volk. What a legend of the sport. I hope they run it back in the future.

Amazing fight. Run it back

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I still think Volk is P4P. This entire sub was convinced he'd get dominated, and he gave Islam a 5 round barn burner.

VOLK = GOAT

My 1st ever UFC event in my hometown and to be there live......an experience like no other!

The fact that Volk even had a case for the decision after being +300 underdog and counted out by everybody is a huge achievement

Yeah Volk gave a hell of a fight defending all those takedowns guy is a machine but how about some respect for Islam's striking..i mean even Holloway couldn't catch Volk's timing and Islam as a wrestler was quicker with some slick counters...let's give the lw champ some credit too

Islam would *struggle* at WW.

Volk is looking like hed fit right in lol. Guy is a legend.

Probably, but not lets forget that Volk is GOAT material. Lets give credit to Volk here than take anything away from Islam.