On Saturday, Oct. 21, the UFC returns to Fight Island as UFC 294 kicks off from the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This card has seen quite a bit of shake-ups in recent weeks with the main event and co-main event both seeing alterations of opponents on short notice.
In the main event, UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev was supposed to be facing Charles Oliveira in a rematch of their fight one year ago from the same venue, when Makhachev captured the title. That was the last time Makhachev actually fought an adversary from the lightweight roster, as his first title defense was last February, when he went the distance with featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
In that fight, Makhachev picked up a unanimous decision that was by no means decisive and was challenged by some watching.
On less than two weeks’ notice, Oliveira pulled out of this weekend’s fight, and Makhachev will instead be facing Volkanovski in a rematch of their own.
The co-main event suffered a similar fate, as Khamzat Chimaev was supposed to be facing Paulo Costa in a middleweight title eliminator bout, but Costa publicly pulled out the day after Oliveira, as he needed to undergo elbow surgery. He was replaced by former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, and the fight still serves as the middleweight title eliminator.
Heading into UFC 284, we thought we would get all the answers. Is Islam Makhachev far too strong for Volkanovski at Lightweight, or will Volkanovski’s skillset be too much to handle? Turns out, the first match left us with more questions than answers.
Makhachev, dubbed one of the strongest wrestlers in UFC history, could only control Volkanovski for seven minutes and secured just four out of nine takedowns. On the other hand, “The Great,” who was supposed to have a massive striking advantage, was dropped in the first round and cracked multiple times throughout the contest.
We knew these two were incredible, yet they still exceeded expectations. Now, we get to watch it all over again. This time, Makhachev must stick to a game plan like the first fight: allow Volkanovski to attack first, then counter with takedowns and secure control time and damage on the mat.
Volkanovski, on the other hand, will need to engage Makhachev more, utilizing his leg kicks and fast movement to not fall behind on the scorecards. With two of the three Pound-For-Pound fighters in the UFC fighting again, there is no way this fight won’t deliver.
