He shone at a UFC 333 that also confirmed Petr Yan's crown
MARCA interviews 'The Great' Volkanovski, the UFC featherweight champion, who is delighted that many see 'Matador' Topuria as the favorite.
IRATI PRAT / TAYLOR CLARK
Updated
Alexander Volkanovski's legendary status (29-4) is becoming more unquestionable by the day. The Australian successfully defended his featherweight crown by knocking out Movsar Evloev (20-1) at UFC 333 while also taking away the Russian's undefeated status. At 38 years old, "The Great" confirms himself as one of the best MMA fighters of all time.
It was in the second round when "Volk" sent Evloev to the canvas. The Russian started strong and tried to impose his striking and power in the takedowns... but Volkanovski is very much Volkanovski. As soon as the "aussie" analyzed his rival's weak points, the war machine that he is became unstoppable.
Volkanovski allowed himself to look for takedowns, control Evloev on the ground and, of course, give a lesson in striking. His punches were better, more powerful and more accurate... and in the second round he began to stagger an Evloev who finally fell to the canvas, seeing his once-unbeaten record broken.
"Volk," who has only three defeats in the UFC (two against Makhachev and another against Topuria), makes it clear that he is one of the GOATs of this sport.
Petr Yan, indisputable
Before, a fight for the history books. And few duels have been seen at bantamweight like Yan vs Dvalishvili 3. Petr Yan (21-5) closed out the trilogy with a victory over the Georgian, successfully defending his belt. And Merab (21-6) really made it difficult for him, even forcing him to come from behind after two rounds down, with the Russian ultimately winning by unanimous decision.
But after a very good start from Merab, who seemed to have left behind the mistakes he made last year, Yan got a read on the fight. He defended the takedowns of a tireless Merab (more than 50 takedown attempts in the fight, a UFC record) and began to hurt the former champion with his elite striking. He didn’t knock him out... but he clearly proved himself to be the king of the bantamweight division.