Islam Makhachev’s trainer, Javier Mendes, shared his expectations for his ward’s upcoming fight against Alexander Volkanovski, which was scheduled after Charles Oliveira suffered a dissection and withdrew from the fight.
“He’s going to do more and take more risks than he did last time,” the American specialist told Submission Radio. “He’s not going to worry about the knockdowns because last time he managed to survive in the parterre and it was downstairs that he performed best, not in the stand-up. So he won’t be afraid or cautious of anything. He will go into the fight with the belief that he can handle anyone and he will try to impose an open and as intense a fight as possible”
Mendes doesn’t doubt Makhachev’s unanimous decision victory over Volkanovski in his previous fight, but sees the rematch as an opportunity for the Russian to move up to No. 1 in the UFC’s rankings regardless of weight class.
“In my opinion, this is the biggest champion vs. champion rivalry in UFC history. I wanted this fight because the first fight left things unfinished in a way. It’s not that I thought we lost. No, we won, and we did so clearly. Islam won most of every round, and definitely only lost the last 45 seconds of the fifth round. Nevertheless, I just want clarity. Besides, Islam deserves to be number one in the P4P rankings, and this fight will set things straight”
The lightweight title fight between Islam Makhachev and Alex Volkanovski will be the main event of UFC 294, which takes place on October 21 in Abu Dhabi.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/32869-trener-makhacheva-prognoziruet-taktiku-volkanovski-v-revanshe.html?rand=19907
