Damn... if that went one more round Volk finishes him. What a performance from him. He's the only one to really stamp the fight as theirs, imo. But unfortunately that may not win a round by round basis.
Volk raised his stock with this fight. Makhachev's stock went down slightly. Great fight by 2 great fighters.
This is what I like about the UFC. The best tends to fight each other. No 10 year marinating a fights.
Volk won the night imo. You've got a razor close fight that's tit for tat but he dominates the final round while Islam looks like he wants the fight to be over already. Sometimes I dislike round by round scoring lol. Not really, but just hate seeing the guy that is actually separating himself as the better fighter lose on points when the other rounds were so close.
Islam pretty much stalled the fight and did zero work on the ground. Spent 99% of his ground control time just trying to advance in position without success and getting punched in the face. His striking was crisp though, but that’s expected with that reach advantage. Hard fight to score based on the scoring criteria in MMA but round 5 has got to be scored 10-8 for Volk. He won atleast another round so a 47-47 score would be probably a fair reflection. Personally I think Volk did enough to nick it, it’s ashame he didn’t atleast get the draw.
The difference is the cardio. Makhachev was tired near the end of the fight while Volk was still fresh. That’s what separates Volk from Makhachev and allowed him to dominate the 2nd half of round 5.
Easy 48-47 Volk... Didn't have any issues scoring any of the rounds. Those judges were absolute trash.
I don't really care about p4p but... how does Volk lose p4p number 1 from this. If anything this fight solidifies it, imo.
Random question for you. If a fighter has the back like Islam did, but the fighter in front is somehow landing the better punches lol... who are you scoring that for? The guy 'in control' positionally, or the one landing the better punches? And do you think Volk was landing the better shots when Islam had his back there for a bit?
I had 3 rds for Volkanovski and 2 for Islam. Very close, though. But seeing how the last round could be a 10-8 I think Volk was unlucky. At least deserved a draw.
Round 4 to me was a clear Volk round, all we had was Islam holding his back and getting punched in the head non stop, that isn't control. Was typical UFC comentary where they didn't want to acknowledge it while it was happening. I would stil have Alex as P4P. His interviews afterwards shows he is a champion of a human.