Close fight but I feel like Islam landed more consistently with heavier shots and had more aggressive grappling control. One of the more technically exciting fights in a long time.
What the heck is 49-46. Was that judge high? Yeah I thought that was a coin flip after the ending without knowing how the scorekeeping actually works.
Let Volk go defend against Yair. Do Islam vs Bene. then maybe run it back. Was a great high level fight regardless
Yeah I was leaning towards Islam 3-2, but I don’t know, I would have to watch it again. That fourth round is even tough because Volk had Islam on his back for 4.5 minutes but hit him in the face the entire time lol. I think Islam landed a lot more of the harder strikes tbh. The crowd seemed to sway a lot of people because they would lose their shit if Islam slipped or if Volk defended a takedown. Overall though, as competitive and high level as you can get. Incredible fight.
Yair is so fun to watch. Cool to see he's kinda got a belt but I don't think he stands a chance against Volk. Main event was incredible. I agreed with the judges but Volk turned it up the last round. I'd love to see them run it back though. I could watch 3 more of those fights!
I think Volk’s post-fight comments were spot on. I think he underestimated Islam’s striking and Islam underestimated Volk’s wrestling. If they rematched, I think I would favor Volkanovski in making the bigger adjustments to get the better of the standup now that he knows he can deal with the wrestling for the most part.
I'm still so bummed. No moral victories in this game, but god damn he did fucking well. Not bad for 'little guy'.
I could’ve given him 3-2, but that’s MMA. Don’t think we’ll get the rematch we want, but one can hope.
That was one of those fights where I want a rematch just because it was fun as hell lol. But yeah you’re right, the champ vs. champ fights are more just to see “how would this fight go?” instead of being essential to the rankings so there’s not much need to run it back unless Volk moves up permanently.
I don't really see anyone in their divisions beating them, so another defence or two for each of them and we could get it.
After Volk fights Yair and Allen, there’s nothing left for him to do in that division. Bene should be next for Islam but he’s gotta fight Charles first. If Allen loses to Max, I think we could see it after one more fight for both guys.
Honestly wouldn’t surprise me. The guy steps on the scale looking gaunt and steps in the octagon looking 175lbs ish.
Is there anything of substance to prove the IV allegations? All I've seen is Dan Hooker being big mad about it but not sure if it's legit or not. If it is, that's clearly against the rules, right? Feels like something that should be taken more seriously than it seems to be as of now.
I’m not really sure what the protocol for that is now. USADA will definitely look into it. Doesn’t seem like there’s any “public proof”. There is a picture of Islam with a bruised arm vein after the fight/before but it’s almost certainly from drug testing.