I asked a friend of mine who is a very close follower of MMA what he thought of Islam v Volk II.
He said, simply, “I’ve been on board with him unquestionably since Ortega and he hasn’t lost since. I’m not jumping off now.”
Fair enough.
Volk is a champion who fights as often and as freely as a gatekeeper.
He’d be what would come out if Cowboy Cerrone’s attitude had a baby with GSP’s skills.
The fact that Volk, the unquestioned and unquestionable king of the 145-pound division and arguably the number one pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world today, took a fight against another champion, up a division, on 11 days’ notice, coming off hand surgery, is absolutely outrageous.
Nobody does that.
Compare it to Jon Jones in 2012, in the prime of his career, refusing to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice after Dan Henderson pulled out of their scheduled fight.
That’s what fighters in the position that Volk (and still Jones) occupy do. They choose. They won’t just fight anyone since they have done the hard yards and now everyone is coming at the king.
I recognize that, in this analogy, Makhachev would be Jones.
He’s the champion who is putting his belt on the line against a dangerous challenge and it’s true, credit to Islam.
I am 100% sure that he’d rather be fighting Olivera than Volk.
He’d rather be fighting a gorilla.
But I’m Australian, and I’m focusing on Volk.
How quickly do you reckon Volk said yes when the UFC offered him the fight? Did the call last 15 seconds? I doubt it.
There’s a video of Volkanovski after the first fight against Makhachev heading back to his changeroom.
Unseen footage of Volk after his #UFC284 loss to Islam 👀👀👀
Who is going to win the rematch at #UFC294 next Saturday ??? pic.twitter.com/c3vkOL8TKF
— capybara analyst (@CapybaraAnalyst) October 12, 2023
He looks like a caged animal. He is not angry but frustrated, agitated, even.
He looks to me like he knows how to get to Islam and that he knows what that win would mean for him.
It’s as if Volk found a chink in Islam’s armour and he just couldn’t find a way to pierce it.
I bet he finds a way this time.
If you look at how the first fight played out, Volk came out looking to move and confuse.
He switched stances consistently on the feet, as if he thought he had an intellectual edge over Makhachev.
Confusing Islam by showing him a different picture every time he looks up.
And it worked… sort of.
He caught Islam with a huge shot coming off a switched stance early in the first round and was generally leading the dance through the first part of the first round.
Also in the first round, however, Makhachev was able to show his ability on his feet.
Makhachev is a simple but effective striker who was clearly underrated in this area by the Volkanovski camp coming into the fight.
This showed in Volk’s recklessness heading inside Makhachev, and Islam was able to take advantage of that recklessness by dropping Volk in a dirty boxing situation.
He followed up with what would have been a fight-ending flurry for most mere mortals.
Islam seemed to take away Volk’s biggest advantage and the comportment of the fight changed.
That moment was the freeze frame in Goodfellas of De Niro kicking Billy Batts.
The moment, it seemed, that the fight turned horrific for our protagonist.
Islam got on Volk’s back and that was that.
But again, Volkanovski is not normal.
He’s built of sterner stuff than most people, really, he’s built of sterner stuff than most diamonds.
Normal rules of pain tolerance and cardiovascular fitness do not apply to him.
He’s like if Phar Lap was more cerebral.
As Islam was working to set up shop around Volkanovski’s neck and render him unconscious as he would any other normal fighter, Volkanovski gave Islam his own freeze-frame moment.
Volk is so strong that he was able to keep Makhachev away from the neck and even had time to talk shit.
When Conor McGregor was in a similar situation he begged for his life and Volk needed to make no such pleas.
Instead, he smiled and made shaka hands.
There, again, the comportment of the fight changed.
Just as Volkanovski underrated Makhachev’s striking, Makhachev underrated Volkanovski’s temerity and strength in the clinch.
Both men had their sharpest weapon dulled.
The fight retained the look and feel of two men who knew how closely matched and were searching desperately for some edge over their opponent. Neither found anything sustainable.
Until the end of the fight.
Every judge gave Volk the final round. He found something right at the end that Islam didn’t have.
I believe that’s where Volkanovski’s frustration came from, 30 more seconds and he had him.
After the first minute of the final round, where Islam excelled on the feet, he was blowing harder than…anyway.
Volk, after having eaten a few big shots, wouldn’t have blown out a candle.
Islam missed a takedown and all of a sudden he was cooked with 3 minutes to go.
As Muhammad Ali said, “this is the wrong place to get tired”.
In the final minute Volk had the reserves to push the pace even more as the exertion showed on Makhachev’s beleaguered face, almost landing a takedown but for some exceptional defence.
Even as he wriggled out, Makhachev checked the clock begging for the seconds to tick by faster, but he wasn’t in Interstellar.
Then Volk cracked him. Dropped him. Dominated him. Under Pride FC rules, Volk wins this fight and is the champion at 145 and 155.
This is why I believe Volk can do it this time. Islam isn’t as comfortable in deep water as Volkanovki, who just needs to deepen the water more quickly.
Push the pace on Islam early. Come out like a pitbull. If his fitness base is there like it usually is after a full camp, he can do it.
Take Islam into deep water and drown him.
If he can do that, he wins.
If he wins, he will cement himself as perhaps the greatest Australian athlete in a non-Olympic sport ever. He may already be that.
Even if the country won’t accept him for what he is.
An icon.
Come on Volk. Come on.