Lil Wayne Says He May NEVER Watch The UFC Again After Islam Makhachev's Victory Over Alexander Volkanovski
Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski just put on an INSTANT CLASSIC in the UFC 284 main event; a true clash of the pound-for-pound greats of our time that put the 'arts' in 'mixed martial arts'.
It went all five rounds, featured moments where each fighter was dropped/in a vulnerable spot, had mid-fight shit talk AND shows of respect, and was just the epitome of MMA at the highest level. Fights like this are why people love this sport and this one was worth the price of the pay-per-view alone.
Before the card, I said I didn't think I saw a path to victory for Alexander Volkanovski (despite his spot atop the P4P rankings), and I gotta admit - I was definitely an idiot for counting Volk out here. He put on an INCREDIBLE performance where he got up almost every time Makhachev put his ass to the canvas, he pieced Islam up for stretches of the fight, dropped him, and even went for some takedowns on his own against him! On Islam Makhachev! Can you believe that?! The balls on this guy!
Volk finished strong, too - dropping an incredibly gassed Makhachev with a minute left in the fight....
....but in the end, that final emptying of the tank wasn't enough.
Much to the chagrin of the Perth crowd, Nate Diaz, and apparently Lil Wayne(?) - Islam Makhachev was given the decision victory at the conclusion of the twenty five minute war.
(Nate plays by schoolyard rules: fights end via finish only, and if there's no finish, the guy who landed the last punch/was on top last won.)
As much as I hate to say it (especially after getting down on my knees and sucking off Volk's performance in this blog), I think I agree with the judges here. I had Makhachev winning at least three rounds (1, 2, and 4) and was pretty confident he'd get the decision after the final bell.
As awesome as Volkanovski looked tonight against Islam Makhachev, he still got rocked a few times on the feet, taken down a bunch, and spent a lot of the fight in a full body triangle defending wrists to stay out of a rear-naked choke. Islam's hands looked really good, his power was prevalent, and his knees were GREAT. One of them split Volk's left eyebrow open pretty good late in the fight. Makhachev was definitely tested and taken to the deep waters more than he ever has been, but he passed the test with flying colors in my eyes.
This fight was still close enough for me to want to see it again, though, so I hope they run it back one day. I had nothing riding this main event at all and it STILL had my heart racing for the full twenty-five minutes. It just had that "Big Fight Feel" throughout.
Volk's gonna pop back down to the Featherweight Division next, in attempt to unify the belts against the new Interim Champion Yair Rodriguez, but he didn't rule out a return to lightweight in his post-fight interview. There's a ton of interesting matchups for him at lightweight beyond just Makhachev, as well, so I do hope we see that happen in the next few years.
OH, and BREAKING NEWS - Weezy just confirmed he will not give up on the UFC as I am writing this blog….
That's great news. We can't afford to have Lil Wayne turning his back on the UFC.
P.S. If Makhachev lost tonight, I think a lot of blame would've been put on Khabib's shoulders for abandoning his fighter right before the biggest fight of his life in enemy territory against the P4P #1.
I certainly wouldn't say that or put the blame on Khabib - I'm very respectful - but I bet some disrespectful people would say that.