Islam Makhachev puts his lightweight title on the line against Alexander Volkanovki in the UFC 284 headliner at Clash of Champions. While Makhachev aimed for Volkanovski’s No. 1 spot in the UFC pound-for-pound rankings, the featherweight champion made a double-champion bid.
Both fighters went toe-to-toe for the most part, with Volkanovsky breaking out the stand-up fight. However, it was Makhachev’s ground game that made the difference as expected. Dagestani landed four of nine takedown attempts, which amounted to a total of seven and a half minutes of control time.
While Volakanovsky dropped Makhachev in the final round, it was probably too late.
While two judges scored it 48–47 in favor of Makhachev, the third judge scored it clearly 49–46.
The co-main event of the night featured an interim featherweight title clash between Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett. ‘El Pantera’ put on an absolute clinic, overwhelming Emmett with his varied arsenal en route to a second-round submission victory.
Fighting in front of their home crowd, Jack Della Maddalena and Justin Tafa earned first-round stoppage victories on the UFC 284 main card.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Krute opened the action with a Barn Burning majority draw against Alonzo Menifield.