“Islam has a job in his weight class, and so does Alexander Volkanovski,” Cormier said in a recent episode of his ESPN analytics program. Volkanovski has an obligation to give Yair Rodriguez the opportunity to become the defending champion
“And I don’t know if it’s fair to Benil Dariush if he beats Charles Oliveira and doesn’t get a chance to fight for the lightweight title. That’s the danger of superfights: you get a close fight and people demand it again. In reality, we have two divisions, in each of which the champions need to clarify a little.”
On February 11 at UFC 284 in Perth, Islam Makhachev made the first defense of the UFC lightweight championship belt, defeating Alexander Volkanovski by unanimous decision with a score of 49-46 and 48-47 twice, and Yair Rodriguez in the second most important event of the event won the UFC interim title in featherweight division, finishing with a Josh Emmett triangle choke.
As for Benil Dariush and Charles Oliveira, their fight will be part of the UFC 288 tournament, which will take place on May 6.