Though it’s now a couple weeks in the rearview mirror, the UFC 284
headliner nonetheless remains a hot topic of conversation.
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Islam
Makhachev captured a hotly contested decision win over Alexander
Volkanovski to retain his lightweight crown on Feb. 11 in
Perth, Australia. Many observers thought Volkanovski deserved the
nod, and praised the 145-pound champ for giving a larger opponent
all he could handle for 25 minutes. Because the fight was so close,
there have been calls for an immediate rematch — including from
Volkanovski himself.
However, UFC president Dana White isn’t among those who thinks an
immediate rematch is the right move to make. For one, UFC 284 also
produced a ready made featherweight contender in Yair
Rodriguez, who defeated Josh Emmett
for the interim crown in the evening’s co-main event. While
Makhachev doesn’t have his next opponent lined up, White believes
it’s probably best for both champions to fight again before
considering a rematch.
“When you make a super fight, could you possibly have a better
result than we did? The entire world is arguing on who won. That’s
a superfight and it delivered,” White said at the UFC Fight Night
220 post-fight press conference.
“The only thing that could possibly be better than that is the guy
who’s fighting for the interim title, comes out looking incredible,
too. So now you have 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. He came out looking like an absolute
stud that night. And then you have the rematch after they both
fight again. It could not have a better result.”
White appears to be set on booking Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez next
at featherweight. The next move for Makhachev isn’t as certain,
though a contender could emerge from a UFC 288 showdown between
ex-champ Charles
Oliveira and Beneil
Dariush.
“To me, the fight that makes sense is you make Yair vs.
Vokanovski,” White said. “Islam vs. somebody whenever that happens,
and then you do the rematch.”