Alexander Volkanovski may have a loss on his record to Islam Makhachev, but there are plenty of people who believe he deserved the victory that night.
Count UFC color commentator Joe Rogan among those who feel like Volkanovski did enough to get the job done in February when he moved up a division and faced one of the most dominant fighters in the sport at UFC 284. In fact, Rogan feels so strongly about Volkanovski’s performance that he still has the reigning UFC featherweight champion ranked as the top fighter in all of MMA.
“He’s No. 1 pound-for-pound,” Rogan said on his podcast. “They have him as not pound-for-pound [No. 1 in the UFC] because he lost that fight [to Islam Makhachev]. I think you could make a real argument that he won that fight. I think he won the fight. In my mind, he won the fight.”
Rogan feels as if Volkanovski imposed his will and dished out more punishment than Makhachev over 25 minutes.
“He did more damage,” Rogan said of Volkanovski. “I think he imposed his skill set. It’s also insanely impressive that he goes up from [featherweight] to fight a massive [lightweight]. That guy is as big at [155 pounds] as anybody is, and at the end of the fight, [Volkanovski] is on top beating him up.
“He drops him, gets on top of him and had massive moments throughout the fight.”
Outside of his lone loss early in his UFC career, Makhachev largely steamrolled his opposition until he faced Volkanovksi and had to battle it out for a hard-fought decision win.
The back-and-forth war may have also benefited Makhachev’s next opponent, Charles Oliveira, who faces the champ for the second time when they meet at the UFC 294.
“You kind of see vulnerability in Islam after that fight with Volkanovski,” Rogan explained.
“First of all, you see how good Volkanovski really is. F****** animal. [But] it sort of gives an air of vulnerability with Islam where before people were like, ‘This guy’s unstoppable.’”
Of course, Rogan credits Makhachev for one-sided victory when he faced Oliveira the first time around, but he also expects a much different fight in the rematch.
“Looking at Charles versus Beneil Dariush, it’s like he’s back,” Rogan said of Oliveira after his latest win.
Of course, Volkanovski repeatedly called for his own rematch against Makhachev, but it appears he’ll be staying at featherweight for now, with a title defense against Ilia Topuria expected in the near future. A win there and — assuming Makhachev can retain his title in October — Volkanovski may start pushing for that matchup again.