UFC 284 LIVE: Volkanovski vs Makhachev stream, latest updates and result tonight
Re-live all the action after featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski challenged lightweight title holder Islam Makhachev, and Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett clashed for interim gold
Alexander Volkanovski came up agonisingly short in his bid to become a dual-weight champion at UFC 284, suffering a narrow decision loss to Islam Makhachev on Saturday.
Australian Volkanovski entered and exited the RAC Arena in Perth as featherweight champion, but the lightweight title eluded him as 155lbs champion Makhachev secured a unanimous-decision win in enemy territory.
Volkanovski had promised to disprove doubters who had claimed he was too small to compete with Makhachev, and the 34-year-old did just that, standing almost every time he was taken down – as he had said he would – reversing grappling positions along the fence, and twice dropping the Russian with punches. Makhachev also fought an impressive fight, however, securing some clinical takedowns and dropping Volkanovski to a knee at one point and wobbling the Australian with strikes elsewhere.
Many present in the arena felt that Volkanovski had done enough to dethrone Makhachev, but the scorecards read 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 in the Russian’s favour. In fact, Makhachev will have likely dethroned Volkanovski as the UFC’s pound-for-pound No 1 fighter come Monday morning, having entered UFC 284 at No 2.
In the co-main event, Yair Rodriguez claimed the interim featherweight title with a second-round submission of Josh Emmett, establishing himself as the next challenger to Volkanovski at 145lbs. Re-live updates and see results from the UFC 284 main card and prelims, below.
UFC 284 LIVE
Read our UFC 284 main-event report here:
Valiant Alexander Volkanovski comes up short in bid to dethrone Islam Makhachev
The featherweight champion put on a remarkable performance but was narrowly outpointed by the lightweight title holder
UFC 284 LIVE
As Indy Sport saw it:
Rounds 1 and 4 were Makhachev’s; rounds 3 and 5 were Volkanovski’s.
Round 2 was the closest, and it could have gone either way.
It was a tremendously competitive fight, a fine performance by Makhachev, and an incredible showing from Volkanovski.
UFC 284 LIVE
Islam Makhachev def. Alexander Volkanovski via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46).
UFC 284 LIVE
Makhachev vs Volkanovski – Round 5
Now Volkanovski nearly takes down Makhachev! One minute to go!
HE DROPS MAKHACHEV! Now he’s in the Russian’s guard, trying to get off punches and elbows.
And finally he manages to land a series of them!
This one is going to the judges’ scorecards. Has Volkanovski *just* done enough?
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