Makhachev is the best fighter on the planet! Volkanovski knows his next opponent. Australia has seen some great finishes. What did UFC 284 look like?

UFC 284 offered some very interesting fights, including two title fights. We got the name of the interim featherweight champion, we got the new best fighter on the planet across the board, and we saw some show stoppers. What did the tournament held in Perth, Australia look like?

Early Prelims

UFC 284 offered eight fights on the opening two cards, but the enthusiastic crowd only saw three early finishes.

The entire tournament opened with a duel featuring Zubaira Takhugov and Elves Brener. The split-decision duel was won by the latter. It was the first fight in the UFC for Brener, so at 25 years old he holds a record of 14-3.

Like Brener, Blake Bilder, who came into the organization via Dana White’s Contender Series, also scored his first UFC win. In his debut, he defeated Shane Young, who was defeated by Ludovic Klein in his 2020 debut, by unanimous decision on points.

After that, fans finally got their first early finish. In the second round it was taken care of by the Thai fighter Konklak Suphisara, who can be known by the nickname Loma Lookboonmee. In the first minute of the second round, she tightened and rear-naked choke on Elise Reed and scored her first submission win and first UFC win before the limit.

Jack Jenkins then made his UFC debut. He won on points against Don Shainis, who has not been doing well in the best MMA league in the world. He lost for the second time. He has never lost two in a row in his career, so he faces an uncomfortable situation.

Prelims

Jamie Mullarkey had to endure two losses in a row after joining the UFC, but he has since moved on, now winning the fourth of his last five fights. He has now taken on Francisco Prada, who was fighting under the organisation’s banner for the first time, in a clear decision. And he also lost for the first time in his career. But this is a 20-year-old talent and defeat is no tragedy.

We then saw the second early finish in the entire tournament. It was taken care of by Kleydson Rodrigues, who only needed 59 seconds to put Shannon Ross in a serious tailspin that simply could not be survived unscathed.

Next, he pulled out an early finish on Josh Culibao, who notched his third straight UFC win when he tightened the choke on Melsik Baghdasaryan. The latter lost for the first time in the organization. Overall, he fell for the second time in his career and his win streak stopped at number seven.

Josh Culibao (W, R2 sub) vs Melsik Baghdasaryan

Tyson Pedro and Modestas Bukauskas provided the last bout before the main card. It was won on points by the latter, who thus managed to make his debut in an excellent manner. It is worth noting that Bukauskas fought Lee Chadwick, currently an Octagon fighter, in the fall of 2022.

Main card

The first fight of the main card offered an awesome battle. Homegrown fighter Jimmy Crute entered it as a welterweight, but Alonzo Menfield was not going to be any easy test.

While the Australian quickly delivered a takedown, the American got him off the ground fairly quickly and got off to an awesome ride in the standup. Crute survived some incredible strikes. Had the round been a little longer, he would have had some work to do.

And Menifield was giving it away in the second round as well, but he was properly exhausted and Crute lived thanks to the great support of the fans. It was obviously giving him extra life. Plus, Crute was close to tightening Menifield up for a rear-naked choke at the end of the second five minutes. But that was saved by the bell.

The third round didn’t carry over such an attractive spectacle. However, the fatigue of both fighters had an impact. Crute showed great heart and was able to check the last five minutes fairly calmly at the fence and on the ground.

The verdict of the judges? A majority draw and a fight without a winner. And deservedly so.

A battle of heavyweights ensued, with New Zealander Justin Tafa, who has lost three of his five fights so far in the UFC, the slight favourite. His opponent was the seasoned Parker Porter, who has won three of his last four fights.

It was expected to be an attractive battle and expectations were met. So the fight didn’t last very long. It was only a minute and six seconds and it was over. Tafa completely grounded his opponent with two hard grenades.

Then Jack Della Maddalena and Randy Brown got in on the action. The Australian fighter had to face various provocations from his opponent, but he didn’t let them throw him off and was as focused as possible throughout the fight.

Although Brown looked a little better as he kicked uncomfortably and made good use of his longer arm spans and long legs, Maddalena waited for the right moment, driving the American to the fence where he first hit him hard, only to choke him out on the ground later. And that in two minutes and fourteen seconds.

Maddalena scored his fourteenth win in a row.

Rodriguez destroys Emmett for the interim title

The penultimate bout of UFC 284 offered a battle for the interim featherweight title and thus a lightweight title fight with champion Alexander Volkanovski in the main event of the tournament.

Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett competed for the challenger position of Volkanovski. The Mexican fighter was the favorite and he lived up to that role. And quite sovereignly. Already in the first round in Emmett’s stance, he “shot”. Kicks not only to the ribs, hard punches to the head.

Emmett was happy to get Rodriguez down with one good punch. But the Mexican was dangerous even from the bottom position and he did great. And he carried that over into the second round where he was again the better man, but after an attempted knee, Emmett took him down again.

But that didn’t quite work out for the American fighter. Rodriguez was active again, and to make matters worse, he attempted a triangle and it worked. Emmett lost for the first time in his career on a submission, Rodriguez won for the first time in the UFC on a submission.

Volkanovski earned respect, but Makhachev beat him

Alexander Volkanovski wanted to make history and become a two-time champion. So he challenged reigning lightweight champion Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title in his native Australia.

Makhachev was seen as quite a big favourite and so the Australian faced a tough challenge. Both fighters’ records were already a source of respect before the fight. While Volkanovski boasted a record of 25-1, Makhachev was 23-1 for a change. In short, a real top.

The first round started quite cautiously, but in the second half both fighters became more comfortable and there were some interesting exchanges, which eventually got the better of Makhachev, who delivered one knockdown. In addition, he got Volkanovsky to the ground and tried to put a choke on him from his back. To no avail.

The second five minutes was much more interesting. There were a few passes and some hard stand-up exchanges. Volkanovski was able to defend Makhachev’s wrestling, but the Dagestani showed that he would be very dangerous in the stand-up as well. Neither fighter was dominating though.

The third round looked similar, with the Australian once again proving that he was definitely not behind in terms of power. On the contrary. But it continued to be an evenly matched duel and went into the champions rounds.

Halfway through the fourth round, Makhachev was able to deliver a successful takedown in the center of the octagon, even getting to Volkanovsky’s back, trying to set up a choke, but to no avail. Volkanovski, on the other hand, was the one who was more active. Even though he was in a much worse position. He had no fear of his opponent’s skills.

In the fifth round, however, Volkanovski gave a phenomenal finish and clearly dominated the round. He even got Makhachev under him on the ground and did his best to finish him. But he couldn’t do it. Nevertheless, he put on a great show.

Makhachev won on points, but he proved he was definitely not invincible. Volkanovski sent a clear message to the Dagestani fighter’s other opponents.

Source: UFC