Brendan Fitzgerald and Sayif Saud preview the UFC 284 main event title fight between champions Islam Makhachev and …
foreign [Music] fight is on as two of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet go head to head for UFC lightweight gold at UFC 284 the Octagon heading back for Perth Western Australia here to preview the fight is the general head coach at Fortis MMA safe South safe the stars have a line and we have a champion versus Champion to headline a huge pay-per-view you said it Brendan the stars have really a line this is a very rare opportunity to see two of the best fighters in the world fighting at their Prime in their Peak for rarefied air either a double Champion or a new pound-for-pound king I cannot wait to see how this fight unfolds we have the lightweight champion Islam bakachev coming off of the dominant performance against Charles Oliveira khabib’s Protege with that unbelievable wrestling but also this awesome striking balance he’s looking like a dominant Champion taking on Alexander volkanovski the pound for pound King 22 fight win streak Brendan 12-0 in the UFC some of the best striking we’ve seen team unbelievable footwork incredible fight IQ I can’t wait to see who comes out on top on this unbelievable main event we will go into the x’s and o’s in depth as safe Sauer does let’s hit fight focus and we’ll start with Islam makacha many believed he was an eventual Champion he was crowned in Abu Dhabi because of what he did against Charles Olivera and it brought him to a whole new level this fight is is an incredible example of how complete of a fighter that Islam is when he’s clicking on all cylinders we know how good Oliveira is he might have had a bad night at the office but Islam won in every single area let’s take a look at this let’s break this down here let’s stop so we knew that Oliveira was going to come out and meet him in the middle right Oliveira’s whole thing as a champion he was just coming straight at people putting tons of pressure on him and finding success he was formidable so how was Islam going to deal with this right that was the real question well he dealt with it very very well so let’s just break this down here we’ve got aloe vera hard charging in the middle and here’s Islam right in front of him but what you’ll see is Islam always does a couple things right he’s always trying to work this outside foot position all the time and the reason he does this is because he’s a southpaw always looking for that left hand that’s exactly what’s going to happen here so as Oliveira comes forward you’re going to see him do this little step back he does that little drift there’s that little drift right but after he drifts back you will notice that he maintains that outside leg position all the time right and as Oliveira then comes forward Islam will step in and Lace him with this beautiful left hand and again foot position he’s got his angle he can wrestle from here which we’ll talk about later on but he’s in great position here he catches Olive air clean this is the very beginning of the fight throws a hook after that but let’s look at it again clean punch we’ll see him follow up with this hook right here now the hook misses but we’re going to come back to that hook here in a little bit so great job by Islam catch him in the beginning of the fight letting him know you’re not going to pressure me and come into my zone I’ve got something for you here this is again in the beginning of the fight Charles gets him against the fence Islam has a hold of his wrist right here and this is a real key point okay we’re gonna watch what he does here Islam is going to create some space and he’s going to grab that wrist That Elbow he’s gonna lift it up just a little bit and create a little bit of a window right here for a nice knee okay and we watch him here he’s going to throw this nice little knee it’s going to come straight up he’s going to connect all right well you need me so what I’m gonna need you back right but Islam knows that and this is the Brilliance of Islam right when Oliveira goes to throw his knee you can see this right Islam has control here and you can just see his body starting to kind of move this way and you will see what he does right as Oliveira throws the knee right right as he goes to put his leg back down on the ground Islam takes this big step right as that leg is going down right he has the overhook here very very deep he’s got control of that risk and he’s going to throw a beautiful hariagoshi and put Oliveira right on his butt and he set all that up with that little tricky knee game he knew Oliveira was going to throw the knee back and right when he went to put his leg back he got the balance that he needed to complete that throw beautiful clinch work here so he’s winning in the clinch he’s winning in the Striking here we go again Oliver is pressuring sits him down on his butt but how did this happen let’s break this down let’s take a look at what Islam is doing again he’s so disciplined about the foot battle you will see Brendan he’s going to constantly be going outside the leg this is one of the Hallmarks of his footwork he understands the fundamentals very very well he stays very rooted in that he’s very very disciplined so we’re going to watch him slide out he’s going to continuously slide out they’re playing that little touch game get in the distance there’s that little step forward step back now there’s that again he gets off the angle when aloe vera pressures what we talked about what throw in the straight left hand this is what he did in the very beginning of the fight but this time he’s going to throw that hook and that Hook’s going to connect big time boom he’s going to clip Oliveira perfectly that hook drops Oliveira down to his butt so again this is two times already early in the fight that Islam has landed the significant blows this time putting Oliveira on his butt Oliveira is no joke on the ground right but watch what Islam does he’s going to cut through this so fast I mean now he’s already in half guard let’s stop man he’s already in half guard but not only is he in half guard he’s already working for that head and arm right he’s already got his head in position for that arm triangle he’s already setting it up just like that he’s already passed the guard and the legs so Oliveira’s got to go Red Alert right now he knows that this is a fight Ender so he’s gonna address it we always say in the room attack what’s attacking you right now that head is attacking that arm that’s a possible fight under for Oliveira being a submission expert he is he’s fully aware of that so we’re going to see Islam connect his hands right here he’s going to connect his hands kind of palm to Palm right here you’re going to see it underneath there’s the hand connection but you’re going to also see that Oliveira he’s got some room here right you can still see his face that arm has got to go across the Carotid artery and that’s where the choke takes place well we can see Oliveira’s face right we know that he can still breathe here Islam knows that as well so let’s watch this adjustment that Islam is going to make he starts pushing his head in which that’s exactly what you want to do you want to push your ear towards through their ear to try to trap the arms so he’s trying to get his face down to the ground trap that arm and get that pressure across the Carotid already so this is what he’s going to do Islam when he’s given the chance here he knows it’s not tight enough so watch what he does here is going to release that grip right here and now he’s going to like a rear naked choke grip to get more pressure on this arm triangle this is kind of rare you don’t see this a lot uh especially at this level and the way he executed this was unbelievable and now you can see now what this just got way tighter right there right so Oliveira knows it’s now or never and last ditch effort here on the arm triangle is to give up your back it’s not something you want to do but he has to at this point so you’re going to see him he’s going to turn over and try to give up his back right but this grip that Islam has so locked in and that’s why the tap came fast everyone said oh he tapped him so fast when you break it down and you see what actually happened you understand why he comes back once he hits that he knows he’s not going to get it once he’s flat backed out Taps him out end of the fight super impressive Islam macachev dominant performance against another champion all right and that’s how he got that championship belt for Alexander volkonowski he got it back in December of 2019 and he has kept it ever since most of his fights since then striking battles and he’s uh kept it on the feet where he is most comfortable absolutely Valk is a pound for pound number one right now he has captured the MMA community’s respect for his incredible fight IQ but also his execution in these big fights always using different weapons the guy’s incredible let’s take a look at how he does this here’s Valk against Ortega something that we need to talk about even though he’s a not a tall guy right we’re not going to call him short we’re not going to disrespect the champ he’s not a tall guy he has a 71 inch reach Brian Ortega has a 69 inch reach okay and Max Holloway even though he looks really long he has a 69 Intrigue so volkanovsky he’s a tactician he understands range and distance and he also has a lot longer reach than people think he usually has the advantage so here he is again you’re going to see him he does these little feelers he’s always checking but he’s switching stances all the time now he does that little Shuffle step and let’s go back and look at this Ortega right now is in this stance right with that lead leg and vulcanovsky looks like he’s gonna kick that leg so he takes a little step but as he does that watch Ortega step back and he’s going to switch stanches so now he’s Orthodox without missing a b vulcanovski takes a little extra Shuffle and what lands the inside leg kick to that leg so he’s constantly making reads and even though you’re trying to make adjustments he’s making the last adjustment the winning adjustment so he lands that kick it’s his feeler then he throws that little flip kick he does that little left High flip kick law but here’s where that reach comes into play he does something very interesting he will Circle off the power side using his length as he comes in watch he’ll pop in with that jab long enough to not get hit with right hands and he’ll Escape out the power side and we’ll see this later very smart footwork here it is again here he’s against Max and everybody was talking about you know Max is so long Max is so long but again the reality is vulcanovski has a 71 inch reach here he will Circle we don’t usually like to Circle to the power side right because we know the big right hands the big kicks you don’t want to go to the power side but Volk has gotten so good at his footwork and execution that he will Circle touch Miss touch so he uses that movement to the power side very very well now let’s look at this movement to the weak side right here he is moving to the weak side which is smart but I want you to watch how he gets his foes to do things they don’t want to do all right let’s look at this position Max Holloway hell of a champion but we’re gonna have to talk about this that’s a long stance right there right when you get your legs that long like that you really can’t do anything else you can’t move you can’t wrestle you can’t pivot you’re in a bad situation vulcanovsky’s very good at this look at vulcanovsky’s legs he’s always in a position where he can Shuffle where he can pivot where he can move he’s going to just step right outside again this is weak side he’s going to step outside and he’s going to land this nice little leg kick perfect placement he’s always getting himself where he needs to be and then using the weapons that he needs at that time and he’ll change that up throughout the fight beautiful read There by vulcanovski seems simple but this is how you break guys down vulcanovsky is very good at adding on he’s going to throw this left hand he’s going to come just a little bit short right here but let’s take a look he’s always watching he’s always making assessments here he sees Holloway lean back and then Holloway’s been doing this he leans back and then he comes in the counter so vulcanovsky knows he’s going to come back to counter he also understands that if he comes back to counter his leg is still going to be there he takes this perfect inside leg kick knocks off Holloway’s base Holloway coming just short time and time again vulcanovsky’s always using the right weapons gauging the distance perfectly knocks out the base of Holloway beautifully done so here again we see him against Max being a master of distance he’s going to circle to that power side Brendan but he’s going to do it in a way where he touches and he scores but he doesn’t get hit there he goes again just getting out of the way right playing that range game perfectly now he’s going to go ahead he’s going to Sprint inside and he’s going to land he’s going to dive back in here against Max he’s going to throw this shot he’s watching Max he sees Max is going to come back to counter like we talked about in the last one as Max comes back to counter watch vulcanovsky he’s going to drift straight back here and then land the kick perfectly right he’s always in position to score and not get hit and this is another example of that he can be very very close throw his technique and then fade just right outside even though he doesn’t seem like he’s a tall long guy he fights very long with that 71 inches beautiful display of mixing and matching here’s the champ against the Korean zombie and a Korean zombie tough as they come but he doesn’t have a lot of head movement and you cannot do that against vulcanovsky and we saw a lot of the movement in and out and his ability to to play that range game and use the right weapons but with zombie it was kind of ugly because zombie kept his head in the middle this is what vulcanopsy can do if you don’t move your head he connects with big shots there’s one two zombies got that little reaction got that little Flinch boom now you’re gonna see right here vulcanovsky’s making that read zombie instead of moving out of the way he’s looking to counter he’s actually going to throw a counter flat-footed in front of him and that was the mistake and you’re going to see the Power Shot get landed by vulcanovsky here comes the counter and that was a big right hand so if you try to stand and punch with him he’s going to use his speed and use his power and he’s really going to pick you apart and there’s just one more just to add to it and that was enough for her herb saw enough here and that was the end of the fight Alexander vulcanovski incredible fight IQ and striking diversity he Blends it all so well Brendan and you mentioned the speed and the power of Alexander volkanovsky and the ability to take the fight where he wants to his footwork is certainly a big part of that incredible footwork here by the champ right he can fight ambidextrously and he has these smooth transitions he constantly has opponent guessing and wondering where his attack is going to come from let’s take a look at this brilliant footwork here so here he is against Max Holloway again and we’re just gonna watch this we’ve got the foot battle again vulcanovsky’s got all the discipline he understands foot position he’s on the outside he’s off the A-line he throws this nice little lead kick he lands well Holloway as you can see he’s already on his way in to counter and volkanovsky knows that he’s looking at him he sees that he’s coming watch how slick this is vulcanovsky was Orthodox he’s going to switch stances here and as he steps back he’s going to step to Southpaw he’s going to throw the hook he misses the hook but you’ll see here he gets a real big reaction from Holloway Holloway wasn’t ready for that because he showed him one picture and then when Holloway came in he showed him another picture and this just shows how smart he is his head again is way offline way over here out of danger he’s very good and very crafty at giving one look and then presenting a different one right away so once he sees that Freeze from Holloway on that stance switch he knows he has something there he’s going to go right back to it he’s going to step through again hands up just in case I get hit and I’m going to try to touch that chin again with that hook right wasn’t there Holloway though is like man what are you doing you could see Holloway he’s confused he keeps on changing stances changing attacks and then you’ll see vulcanovsky he’ll Center up boom boom boom footwork reset back to where he was originally always making these reads then he continues he loves to use this little Sprint step and here we go again Sprint step switch not quite boom then he Sprint steps again and he hits him with the left hand so he was Sprint stepping switching Southpaw and trying to attack with the lead hand here he is Sprint stepping and then finishing with the left hand so you see this over and over again from vulcanovsky he’s constantly switching stances and attacking from both sides beautiful stuff by him he’s very good at this so here he is with Ortega and this just shows you again just simple Basics and a really really incredible MMA mind here from Valk he knows he has a reach Advantage again he’s going to work himself this way outside of the leg the whole time but I want you guys to pay attention to what he does with his hand right here right and remember I told you 71 inches he’s always kind of ranging people and touching them and feeling and getting that distance well here he’s against Ortega he’s just going to step outside that leg and he’s going to grab that elbow right kind of guide that wrist a little bit let’s just stop right here so he’s got Ortega backed up again we see where he is he’s outside of the foot right where he needs to be behind Ortega away from Ortega’s power side he’s in good position right here he knows that once Ortega releases this arm and once he kind of lets go of it that there’s going to be an opening where right to that same side and he uses that opening to land a perfect jab touches Ortega again beautiful step beautiful setup with the hands but all of it is set up by the footwork and he understands his positioning and where he needs to be all the time so sometimes we say keep the guy in the middle and you use your footwork to touch and move touch and move touch and move and that’s exactly what he does here against Holloway and he’s going to need that incredible footwork to stay away from Islam we all know where the advantages for Islam and he’s going to have to use that footwork and speed to make sure that Islam doesn’t get a hold of him and this is a perfect example of that so you’re going to watch him he’s going to drift away from the power side away now use that little flip kick right and we said that he uses those kicks kind of to check range Max takes a step back and now he’s going to throw this cool little left hook but watch him step off the middle here for the overhand right now let’s look at where he’s at again incredible discipline by him even though you never see it he can go towards the power side and still get outside the leg so he hits that little switch boom boom boom gets his head offline throws that nice overhand right but watch what he does after this Brendan now he’s going to go back to that jab we talked about circling wide to the power side jab return Jab jab pull hallway throws the right jab again Landing again keeping Holloway in the middle now he’s backing up backing up but he’s not going to get close to the cage now watch what he does we seize an orthodox position right this foot’s in front and Holloway is hard charging how do we deal with pressure and watch what he does with his footwork he’s going to create space for himself by taking that left leg and setting it back now he’s in a southpaw position right so he went from Orthodox to Southpaw all while moving backward right and creating a different picture right when he puts that foot back now he’s going to use that Sprint step that he likes and he’s going to throw this left hand and then boom he hit some of that big right hand peeks up at the clock right here always thinking vulcanovsky’s always thinking peeks up at the clock this was the end of the round and he was trying to seal it comes back weak side jab jab towards the strong side again vulcanovsky can control the range and keep opponents in the middle the whole time and this is important here Brendan because it’s not easy to move around the whole time you know I’m gonna go left I’m gonna go right well I mean we saw khabib when he fought gaichi he just walked him straight down he got hit a lot too some Fighters are going to come straight at you and vulcanovsky knows that so he’d been moving around a lot but Max was trying to cut him off cut him off he’s like all right I’m going to Stand My Ground And this is so impressive on how he controls distance a small amount of distance and continuously wins so we’re gonna watch him here he’s gonna land this one two now let’s stop he lands the one two and then as Holloway comes to counter again he’s just gonna throw another one too boom boom right so he throws a one two and they kind of had a thing going you go I go you go I go he throws a one two Holloway star it’s my turn no it’s not one two again right in the middle doesn’t give up any space and if you can see again he’s still what he’s not past that black line he’s keeping Holloway in the middle even though hallway’s hard charging and he’s not even moving around a lot he’s just owning the space in the distance just a little bit of space but he’s so engaged and has such a good understanding of the footwork and where he needs to be that he can control that distance and that narrative the whole time let’s watch him go again he throws the one two he backs him up and now you see Holloway coming back inside Here Comes Holloway it’s my turn he sees the head going down so watch what volkonovski does he makes an adjustment here he’s always watching look at him he’s watching I’m gonna dip down low uppercut left hook but again look at where his feet are look at where his feet are he’s never ever running away here he’s never running away look at him he’s always looking at his opponent always gauging the distance Alexander volcanovski incredible footwork owning the space left right center doesn’t matter well you mentioned it islamicachev we know where he stands out we know where his uh bread is buttered so to speak striking though is the way that he gets into grappling and that’s what allowed him to win the belt in the first place absolutely Brendan and and Islam has developed a very effective striking game that he utilizes to close the distance get good timing on takedowns good entries it’s a huge part of his game and if you’re not careful you’re going to get touched with those punches like we showed in the olive verified so let’s take a look at some of the stuff he does on the feet here he is against Dan hooker and Dan hooker understands where he needs to be and we got to give Dan hooker credit he’s like man I got to stay outside of that leg I don’t want to get hit with that left hand I’ve been watching the tape with my team I need to shift this way but he also throws a little kick and right when he throws the kick you’re going to see Islam counter that right away with that lead hand and right when he gets him off balance you can see he’s already reaching for the legs Islam is will hit you up top and go down low I mean he’s doing both of the things at the same time we always say keep our opponent on the horns of a dilemma they’ve got to pick one or the other they’re going to lose that battle and this is what he does right after he gets that little lead hand he’s going to go right to the legs and you’re going to see him he’s already got that grip he’s already got his grip he’s already got hooker on the way down this is the very beginning of the fight and you know you’re going there like all right I don’t want to get taken down I got to see on my feet I got to move around man you’re on your back right away and we’re going to see this little detail that Islam does as well he’s gonna attack the wrist here and I want to pay attention to that he’s just getting started right he’s just getting started he gets that risk and he’s not going to allow Dan hooker to get up polls and posts after he gets those takedowns he will control here he is against Chris Wade Chris Wade is a very good fighter uh was a Collegiate wrestler tough guy we see Islam Landing that left hand that we saw earlier against Charles he goes right in again on the takedown we see it again right away well he leaves his head here he didn’t do this against Oliveira maybe because of the guillotine but he was confident enough to do it here against Wade Wade will try to go for the guillotine but Islam ends up getting out of it again using that punch to get off the center line get access to the legs scores again gets a takedown ends up on top we see it time and time again from Islam now here he’s against Gleason T Bell and I really want you to watch the footwork here we’ll see Islam he’ll go left he’ll go right he’ll go forward he’ll go backward he’s constantly given Gleason a different look and Gleason’s trying to gauge him and follow him and he’ll get Gleason so frustrated and and so ready to go after him that he tricks him here and he does this all with his footwork and this shows you again you can’t just say oh he’s just trying to take me down he’s always just trying to take me down if you don’t pay attention you’re going to get caught and uh we saw that in the Oliveira fight and here again we see it early in his career in the Gleason fight so let’s just watch him he’s going to move left throw a kick forward back and he’s going to move right now let’s start watching this forward back forward back this is really really interesting he’s going to go forward Gleason goes back he’s going to go forward Gleason goes back now he’s gonna wait this is what we call wait and bait so he kept giving him the faint the faint the faint you see Gleason he’s like all right man I got to do something here so as Gleason comes in here this time Islam doesn’t go back he goes straight in he throws the kick and again we see he’s already reaching for the leg right he’s got his head offline again he’s always being smart with his head position he’s always being smart with his foot position gets his head offline but he didn’t need to do more than that we’re going to see it here on the replay he’s going to land this left hand perfectly but again we see him reaching for the takedown at the same time he’s going to glance up and when he sees Gleason is hurt here he kind of understands what’s going on adds on Islam makachev incredible striking to grappling if you don’t pay attention you’re going to get touched up all right safe well striking into grappling is something that Islam macachev has used as we’ve shown but if he’s just a straight wrestler and he just chases a straight takedown he can do that as well and figures to do it against Volk absolutely you can do it as well Islam with his world-class background is got a great mix of wrestling and Judo so he can win in space or he can win in the clinch let’s take a look at some of the takedowns that Islam utilizes so here he is against Drew Dober and this is important here we use this clip because Dobra is a shorter stocky powerful Striker similar to volkanovsky and we see a little bit of a different approach here from Islam he’s circling away he’s kind of not waiting and baiting as much he’s trying to get away from the power side he knows that dober’s got that Dynamite left hand and he understands what he needs to do so a little bit of busy work here by Islam he throws a punch out gets a little reaction here from Dover gets them to back up and then Dover starts to pursue and then we’re right in there on the single so ber was ready for this there’s no doubt Dover knew he was going to shoot in on his legs I’m sure they trained that and they were ready for it but it doesn’t really matter Islam is going to come up oh let me just sweep that leg out let me get top position and now once he gets that spot he starts going to work great takedown very simple right to the point here he’s against thiaga Moises and we’ll see he’s got thiaga voices against the fence and Thiago is trying to Circle away kind of get out of there and Islam knows that so he throws this high kick not even really trying to land he already sees that his hands are up but he’s trying to Corral Thiago back and that’s exactly what he does he Corrals him back stops him for a little gives him a little faint and a fake and then he’s then right on the hips right away get him against the fence he’s very good at trapping with his strikes so there he traps we’re gonna see him here he’s going to get the hands locked once he gets the hands locked right we’re gonna see him do a big lift right here all right well I saw this on the tape this is Islam’s I’ve got you face okay this is his I got you face and the reason why this is interesting is because it just shows you a little bit of the psyche of him right he doesn’t say a lot he doesn’t talk a lot but he’s confident he’s got his hands locked he needs to explode up here right so this is I I got I got my hands locked I’m ready to take you for a ride once he gets him up on the shoulder though watch this is that I’m just chilling face right here heat right away you could just see how calm Islam is right he knows when to explode and when not to explode in these wrestling engagements he understands positions so well hands are locked now I’m just going to take you for a ride and you’ll see he’s very efficient here with his takedown like he’s gonna slam him but he just gets him back down very good work by Islam there so here he is against Koontz and we’re gonna show a little bit of Judo here we talked about it already in the Oliveira fight and so we’re going to see kuntzes get this underhook he’s got this underhook here and when you’ve got an underhook on one side you feel pretty good I’ve got an underhook I’m all right here my hips are back all right I mean I know you might shoot in on my legs but here’s where Judo becomes useful Islam loves this position right he’s gonna take that overhook that he has on that side right we see him grabbing again grabbing that hand he always grabs that opposite wrist he needs to control that other hand when he does this and as he grabs that wrist he’s going to step all the way through here and we see the hips get past his hips get past kuntz’s hips right we see that he has that overhook on that side right he’s going to use that over hook uses hips and land a beautiful hariagoshi another important point is you see how tight this is you see the fist balled up to control right he understands all these positions overhook and underhook beautiful haraigoshi here Picture Perfect now Koontz bases out after he gets thrown something you see a lot of he’s got both hands down on the mat he doesn’t want to get flattened out he doesn’t want to be belly down with Islam on top of him so he posts up and he’s trying to build his base back but you’re going to watch how smart Islam is here he’s going to attack one wrist and then attack the other wrist taken both of them away this is how he breaks people down he’s so good at controlling risk controlling position after the takedowns as well beautiful work by Islam Maca Chef awesome takedowns because of what Islam macajev is so good at the entire fight might come down to the takedown defense of Alexander volcanovski most of his title defensive come against Strikers different type of challenge here you’re absolutely right Brendan and and vulcanovsky is a very good athlete very explosive he’s shown great takedown defense before we know he weighed 218 pounds in the rugby league he’s not a weak guy because of his compact stature he’s also kind of hard to hold down and we’ve seen this before in the Chad Mendes fight so let’s take a look at this we use the Chad Mendes fight because Chad Mendes is an All-American wrestler and he obviously has very good credentials we understand that Chad Mendez is not Islam we know that but we still think he presented some of the same problems here so we’re going to take a look at this film here Brendan when I study the tape on this I I it’s been a while since I’ve seen this fight I wonder is he going to throw did he throw a lot of kicks in this fight and indeed he did he did not really change the way that he does his offense because he’s so good at footwork and he’s got so much confidence in his fight IQ he was go ahead and throw kicks all day long and I think he’s gonna throw kicks against Islam as well I don’t know how many and I don’t know when but I think we will still see it so this is why this is important as vulcanovsky goes to throw this kick Mendes reacts appropriately gets in on the legs okay he starts to push vulcanovsky back we see vulcanovsky and how quick-witted he is right away he starts attacking the lock right we always say attack what’s attacking you and mendez’s arms are attacking his legs so he wants to hike Mendez up to shut that takedown down that’s exactly what he does he starts to hike him up he gets Mendez up and right when he gets Mendez up at the very end of this we see volkanasi get his head lower than mendez’s head and we always want to have our head positioned lower than our opponents whether we’re Against the Cage whether we have him on the floor we always want to use that head as a leverage point so this just shows you the details on the exit he understands that even exiting the clinch needs to get his head down and get that leverage and then we see volkanovsky say all right you want to take me down I’m going to pressure you he does that a lot Brendan if someone tries to take him down if he gets up or if they miss he will pressure right after that and I look for this to be important in this fight if he stuffs Islam’s takedowns I think he’s going to go after him right after that try to get that heart rate up try to put that pressure on and maybe Land one of those shots switching his feet around using that fight IQ so here he goes again against Chad Chad makes a an adjustment he gets in on the legs this time and when he gets in on the legs he’s going to do something a little bit different he’s going to turn the quarter immediately he turns the corner immediately because the last time he tried to run Valk and Vault kept his balance but because volk’s legs aren’t very long if you start turning the corner on him he can’t really balance that much and I think Islam’s Camp is going to be aware of that so turning the corner was the way that Chad got him down but the reason this is here is to show how fast he gets up and how hard he is to hold down so he takes him down but we’re gonna see vulcanovsky here he’s looking at his at his corner and if you see Brad Riddell right here Brad Riddell is telling him hey push on the head right and this just shows you how calm vulcanovski is in these situations he’s looking at his corner he said okay push on his head yeah you’re right I should probably do that he starts posting on the head and you’ll see him looking at his Corner acknowledging him yeah I got this but here’s the important piece here vulcanovski’s legs are not very long we know Islam likes to trap the legs he likes to get them underneath watch how fast valknowsky gets up because the step up isn’t very much so and this is an important piece volkanovsky let me get on the head pop he’s already back up he’s already back up it doesn’t take him a long time whereas when someone’s long you can keep grabbing the ankles all these little tricks that Islam has they’re not going to work on vulcanovsky the same way because of the body stature so another little head knot good job you got me here he comes again with a forward pressure Here We Go Again Mendes comes in again we talked about him turning the corner he turns the corner here he gets he gets volkanovsky down here we see vulcanovsky’s ability to scramble he’s got this knee in this leg and it’s almost like a little knee Shield he tried to kick him over as he went down but he failed Mendez is going to pass this leg right here and once he does that vulcanovski knows he needs to go the other way which is very smart so he’s got him in a side control here vulcanocity is going to come underneath use this hand to push and create a scramble Mendez knows that as well so as he pushes Mendez stays on top now we look at this window right here and this is important right this is the window that you want when you’re on top because you want to take this leg and you want to put it that hook right here so you can leg ride and get control while vulcanovsky shows his Jiu Jitsu Acumen here let’s watch what he does with his elbow here let’s take a look at how he closes this space right here and this just shows you when he’s in bad situations he’s always thinking so he’s just going to close this space here with his elbow right here and that’s very very smart he does that Mendez understands that there’s no place for the hook so he’s in this top position but he still doesn’t have hooks and no hooks you can stand up so Mendez goes uh you’re not going to get me off that easy he’s going to go to try to put the hook in and then you’re going to watch again let’s watch vulcanovsky let’s watch what he does with that arm he’s going to take that arm and he’s going to just nope you’re not getting that hook so a great little detail here by vulcanovsky understanding this position doesn’t matter though because Mendez still takes him here gets us back but you can see he only has one hook and vulcanovsky is going to start fighting hands here he starts fighting hands gets it on the other side of his head which is good but his body’s in the wrong position and he can’t really turn around so what ends up happening is Mendez throws the other hook in and they end up coming the other way both making adjustments as he comes this way you’re going to see Vault start to sit his shoulders to the mat right here and this is what you want you want to get your shoulders to the mat you want your shoulders to be down and you want to start sitting this hip out right and actually turning in and facing your opponent and Mendez is going to come try to come to the Mount you’re going to see vulcanovski come in with this little like sit out uses that left arm comes right back up and this is what vulcanovski does this was right afterwards and we’ve included this to show you his mindset vulcanovsky puts the pressure on Mendez is oh man that took a lot of gas you know what body head end of the fight vulcanovsky has good takedown defense but he also understands how to scramble and get up and how to pressure off of those failed shots as we look at the road map to victory for both of these guys for Islam akacha we went striking into grappling takedowns the takedown defense that leads us to The X Factor of Islam macachev and perhaps that’s keeping the fight down man you do not want to get taken down by this guy because his Ground Control is incredible an awesome submission game but also the ability to ride the legs and ride the hips land vicious ground and pound and just take his opponent’s gas tank out this is a big big deal because we know Volk has a great gas tank he’s shown us those five round fights so I look for Islam to try to take some of that gas out get him down and make him tired let’s see how he does this it’s just incredible to watch when you really start to break down the tape on Islam and all the little details we always say Brennan the devil’s in the details so here we see Islam and the way he he uses his feet not only is he strong in his upper body but the way he uses the details with his legs to trap in a trick his opponents is unreal so here he is in this kind of like little half guard position he’s trying to get out Nick Lentz is a black belt and a good one he understands the position but I want you to watch these feet and what he does here he’s going to push with that inside foot pushing that pressure down on Lance’s leg while he squeezes that other leg out then when he gets here you’ll see he’s still so he can’t recapture the half guard he traps the leg and keeps pressure and we’re going to see this time and time again in this clip all these little tricks that he does with his InStep and how he keeps control here so now he’s gonna pass he’s got great position lenses like oh man this isn’t good so lens goes to scramble he knows he’s got to make a change so Islam goes to the back he’s still kind of in a side control back position not really in the back yet but now we’re gonna watch what he does again we’re gonna watch what he does with his feet okay I want you to watch his feet we say this all the time you want your toes on the ground so you can base right if I’m flat on my InStep I cannot base we see people sit in the guard on their InStep sit back on their butt well you don’t have any power there you want to be on your toes so you can stand up so you can pass so you can posture to punch and we see this over and over again Islam’s ability and understanding on how to base out with his feet and control and get these control points you’ll also see here that Islam has got that Shin on his calf trapping him right keeping him there we’re gonna watch how he utilizes this so he’s got again you can see the pressure on the feet you can see the weight right and Lance is like oh man like I can’t move my leg so Islam uses this as a trick we go back again to the hook we go back again to volkanovsky understanding the hook will Nick Lance understands the hook you see him kind of trying to block he doesn’t want to allow that hook to get inside watch what Islam does he’s going to keep that pressure and once he relieves that pressure on that leg and lents straightens it out right he straightens his leg out then you’re gonna see him place that hook right here and this Hook is how he maintains top position the whole time so here comes the hook now the hook is in right so he trapped this leg kept it down right once he lifted it up and it extended he put the hook in now let’s watch how he rides the legs here so that hook is a key point there still got the hook still got the hook now he’s in a three-quarter Mount position punching punching punching should I turn around what should I do here I meant just all bad for Nick Lentz all bad and now watch it again one final piece to the puzzle here about the foot there it is again he’s always trapping trapping the bottom half and controlling the top half all the time right and this is why people look like they have no idea what’s going on you watch Nick Lentz he’s got good Jiu Jitsu he’s got a great Guillotine he’s fought well but when you’ve got somebody attacking you in a way that you’ve never been attacked attacking your ankles attacking your your cast and attacking your upper body at the same time with all these little details that’s how you break people and this is what Islam does on the ground Islam macachev is a master on the ground ground control submissions ground and pound dangerous on the floor it’s very easy to look at the game of Islam macachev and figure out where he has strung this for Alexander volkonowski it’s not that easy so what is The X Factor for him to become a double champion Alexander volkanovsky the pound for pound number one has shown incredible Championship medal we’ve seen him in all these different positions but we’ve also seen him have some trouble in the grappling Department in the Ortega fight and this is a very famous uh scene right it was such high drama he was in the driver’s seat he was doing well and here comes Ortega and if there’s someone you don’t want on your neck whether with their legs or with their hands it’s Brian Ortega and we have to take a look at the grit that Alexander volcanovsky displayed here if there’s someone Tough Enough To dare to be great it’s Alexander volkanovsky so here he is he’s in the driver’s seat he’s winning the fight he busted Ortega pretty good things are looking good he throws the kick again and when he throws this kick we’re gonna see Ortega just reacts perfectly this is that moment for Brian Ortega I mean he does everything right here he’s going to catch the kick he’s going to drop Valk and it wasn’t as much as that he was hurt that it was this I mean couldn’t have freezed it at a better time this is just not where you want to be with Brian Ortega I mean he is one of the best in the business at choking his Guillotine is incredible he’s got not only does he have it in tight he’s got it mounted so he’s not on his back he’s got the arm trapped here right because what we would do normally is we’d go two on one and we would fight the grip and we would try to fight the hands to get ourselves free and get some space he cannot do that he cannot do that because his arm is trapped in this position I bet you Ortega I don’t know what he was thinking but it was good whatever it was because it doesn’t get much better than this it really doesn’t mounted arm trap guillotine so I’m just gonna let this play this just shows you the grip watch valkanovsky watch his legs watch how he never quits now you’re gonna see this too we got to go back here he’s already freed his hand from that wiggle and now where’s the f so step one what hand fight he got to that you could see his head his freaking turning purple right here I mean everybody was saying it you remember it this was a very very tight choke so he starts fighting the hands right away but his legs are still off the ground in Ortega’s hipped in still not a good position watch the amount of grit and tenaciousness here from Valk and that’s what you do man you just keep fighting keep fighting you’re never out of the fight he keeps moving the hips keeps moving the hips unbelievably gets out of this choke right so turns inside left side underhook we talked about that tries to come up you see Ortega fishing for the neck again he’s looking maybe for a dart looking for another choke vulcanovsky reverses incredible scramble here talked about vulk’s ability to scramble he’s got him busted up oh uh oh [Applause] volkanovsky has managed to get himself in the other worst position with Brian Ortega which is a triangle choke and this choke is in it’s it’s not quite as in as much as the guillotine but what you’re looking for is this foot behind the knee and is it locked you need to get it locked once you get it locked and this arm is in right that’s a good triangle you also see Ortega what hooking the leg trying to get the angle trying to create position that’s a tight choke and vulcanovski said it wasn’t tight but maybe that’s just because he’s that damn tough again peeling fighting peeling fighting understanding position still not only does he not lose there but he’s going to end up on top here Landing big shots and this is when you just knew like this guy’s just a different level man big huge shots to end the round look at Ortega gold belt goes around his waist well deserved vulcanopsis got the grit you never know you cannot count him out in this fight he’s a champion for a reason a pound for pound King for reason as well and now he’s going for more on the resume as he chases Championship status we’ll go to keys to Victory we’ll start with Islam makacha who many believed was inevitable he’d be a UFC champion now the real question is what is his championship Legacy what does he need to do to defend that belt first of all Brandon he has to faint and he’s got to make sure that he stays on top of this we showed volk’s incredible intelligence fight IQ I think they’re going to game plan through the roof on this I think they’re going to know all of Islam’s little side steps that left hand that he throws coming back with the hook the way he traps with kicks the way he’s going to try to Corral him they’re going to have a lot of tricks in the bag Islam has to throw the timing off with the faints and fakes so he can get the Striking into grappling next he’s got to win those scrambles we just showed you an incredible scramble here with vulcanovsky he will not give up right he’s going to keep going going he’s got the gas tank maybe at 155 the gas tanks even more because he doesn’t have to cut the extra 10 pounds we don’t know he’s gonna have to win the scrambles and secure these positions when he gets them make sure he’s controlling and he has to do that by maintaining control we showed his Ground Control the way he uses his feet the way he covers the hips the way he traps legs he has all these little tricks on the wrist rides all these things to keep his opponents down he’s either going to submit you or he’s going to beat you up either those two is a loss for Volk he cannot allow him to take him down over and over again all right let’s hit that other arrow and for Alexander volkonowski to become the next champ champ keys to Victory volkanovsky footwork and movement we showed his brilliant fight IQ executed in that striking Acumen how does he do that he does that with his footwork and his movement he fights ambidextrously I’m sure he’s going to have lots of tricks like I said to counter the South Pole of Islam I look for him to be moving constantly we know he can’t stand still and he’s going to try to keep Islam in the middle so that way he doesn’t have his back against the fence second of all he’s got to defend takedowns we already know where Islam’s bread and butter is if Islam is going to try to take this fight to the ground he’s the bigger guy we know he likes to ride that ground control time we know he’s a submission threat vulcanos is going to have to defend these takedowns we understand he might get taken down once or twice he’s going to have to get up he’s going to have to scramble he’s going to really have to push it in those bad positions and that’s really one of the big keys to this fight can he stop the takedowns everyone is going to be watching with baited breath to see you know how that plays out and lastly if he does stop the takedowns he’s gonna have to sustain offensive attacks Islam can just put him up against the cage stay busy with knees stay busy with busy work and control Valk even though this fight is at home yeah he could still lose rounds there so he’s gonna have to sustain offensive attacks continuously score throughout damageslam put some damage on his face get a little blood going for him to really be able to say hey you know I’ve got three rounds in the bank or whatever it is if he can’t stop his Islam we know he’s got power but we can’t back on him getting a knockout so sustained offensive attacks against Islamic so many storylines in this headline UFC 284 Alexander volcanovski has already beaten Jose Aldo and Max Holloway three times 22 fight win streak he’s putting himself among the featherweight greatest of all time can you imagine if he moves up to 155 pounds and gets a second championship belt for Islam makachev first title defense of habib’s protege a lot on the line as they go back down to Perth Western Australia safe side expertly done as always thanks for watching UFC breakdown [Music]