UFC lightweight Michael Chandler breaks down the UFC 284 main event that sees UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev …
the octagon has settled here in beautiful Western Australia we’re in the capital city of Perth man what a what an awesome fight card that they put together for UFC 284 uh all the way across the world over in Australia volkanovsky number one pound for pound guy in the world versus Islam hachef for the lightweight belt he’s the number two pound-for-pound guy in the world not only they put put together a phenomenal card uh but everybody has been chomping at the bit to get the UFC back over there and I can’t wait to watch volkanovski is just he’s just good he’s solid everywhere um as well as a guy who you know when you talk about him going up the weight class obviously that guy’s weighed over 200 pounds before um when he was a rugby player before he started fighting so you’re not talking about a guy who’s a natural 145 pound you’re talking about a guy who’s you know been above 200 pounds before heavier than I’ve ever been honestly so it’ll be very interesting to watch him uh how his strength plays um plays against Islam I think he’s better in the Striking Department I think he’s more crisp season there and he’s also dangerous enough with the grappling and and take down defense to be able to stop some of Islam’s uh some takedown but you know only time will tell I think uh volkanovsky when it comes to fight IQ if he needs to fight a striking battle like he gets to get did against Max Holloway but then also more of a grappling battle like he did in another fight against Max Holloway kind of changed things up he could do that whereas Islam is very kind of linear in his approach he knows he wants to go out there throw a couple bombs take you down and then grapple you possibly submit your ground empowerment but uh volkanov’s getting a lot more wins tonight Islam has just proven that when you’re really really good at one thing it works against the majority of people you know when you’re really really brilliant with the basics and also whenever you fully commit and fully believe in your style you know he wakes up every single morning and says this is how I fight this is what I do and I don’t care who it is standing across the Octagon from me they will succumb to my demands in the grappling Department in so he has the ability to impose his will and impose his game plan and um it’s worked out really well and he’s been very dominant thus far but volkanovsky is uh he’s very good and he’s very adaptable as well if he needs to change his game plan uh mid fight he can do that you know when it comes to a prediction you know it’s so hard to predict fights these days because you know we all know that that market Chef could go out there and just absolutely manhandle him because he’s bigger and he’s stronger and he knows how to Grapple better but then we also have seen vulcanovski get out of these tough situations these tight situations change game plans mid fight use his fight Instinct and despite IQ to get the win so um I think if Islam is able to go out there and impose his will and get the takedown it’s not necessarily going to be a short night at the office because I don’t think he’s going to finish volkanovski but I think it would be a very dominant decision but as we’ve seen before volkanovsky is just good everywhere he really is um and he he will put together a second round that was different than his first round and the third round that was different than the two previous and he’ll make the changes on the Fly and if he can do that I think he’s got better striking and he’s got good enough takedown defense to stop Islam’s takedowns if he can do those two things he’s going to outpoint Islam and I think he’s going to have a higher Pace as well and uh he got a decision that way you got one guy who wants to impose his will another guy who’s really good at adapting to not letting his opponent impose his will so it’s really a uh it’s a Fan’s Delight to be able to watch these two guys compete these awesome competitors compete at UFC 284.