“Of course, I’m very interested in this fight,” MMA News quoted the former UFC middleweight champion as saying. “I want to see how the dynamic between Makhachev and Wolf will change from the first fight. Alex is coming off a 12-day notice, in foreign territory, making a lot of money and not losing anything, only gaining. I think this kind of mental attitude will help him perform better than last time, because it completely frees him from the presser”
“He knows he’s not losing anything, only gaining, and I can see how that could be a problem for Makhachev. I look at it and wonder – what conclusions did Makhachev draw after the first fight to beat Wolf? What can he do differently to make the fight not so close? Maybe Wolf won that time.”
Three days earlier, Alex Volkanovski agreed on short notice to replace the injured Charles Oliveira and face reigning UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who is scheduled to headline UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 21.