Henry Cejudo has changed his mind when it comes to scoring Alex Volkanovski vs. Islam Makhachev.
The two champions fought it out at UFC 284 with the super-fight reaching the distance. The judges scorecards had it as a unanimous decision victory for Makhachev, who’d retain his lightweight title. However, not everybody saw it that way including Cejudo… well, not at first.
On fight night, the former two-division champ originally had Volkanovski winning the fight.
My instant reaction to the decision 😂😂😂
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) February 12, 2023
I have to watch it back on mute to decide who really won. Either way, both fighters should be proud 👏🏽 #UFC284 https://t.co/QCaBRry7IF https://t.co/APgHAo55Um pic.twitter.com/acbPOpUP8o
Cejudo promised that he’d watch the fight again without sound to determine who really won and he did just that on his YouTube channel, giving a detailed breakdown of the main event using the three T’s: threshold, tactics and technique.
Threshold
“Who is it that had the edge on the threshold? I can tell you guys right now, I was wrong,” Cejudo said. “I was thinking Islam would have the bigger threshold, but in this scenario, I’m gonna have to give this right here to Alexander Volkanovski right here. I do feel like he’s the one that’s striving in the fifth. He was able to win that fifth round decisively.
So for that reason, guys, I thought Alexander Volkanovski had a bigger gas tank. So for that reason, Alexander Volkanovski his threshold is what made this fight competitive. His ability of being conditioned, his ability to be getting out of positions are based on his gas tank.”
Tactics
“The tactical work man… it was pretty neutral for this one,” Cejudo continued. “Typically I don’t like ties and I’m still not sure if I’m gonna give a tie, but I felt like they both had a game plan. I thought Alexander did a really good job that allowed that second round to be kind of like a swing round, but he was able to win round 3, which is another close round. But that he was able to be decisively in the fifth.
“I think what Islam did good is taking the back in the fourth, being able to take him down and control him, getting Alexander to his butt, getting him against the cage a lot more. So, if I had to pick somebody tactically, even though I kind of wanna say it was about even, I’m gonna have to give the edge on this one to none other than Islam.”
Technique
With threshold and tactics tied up 1-1 between Volkanovski and Makhachev, ‘Triple C’ moved on to who had the better technique.
“What it really came down to more than anything was right here: the technique. There’s a lot of things that I did like what Alexander did good. There was a lot of things that I felt Islam could have done better, especially as the bigger man. But I will say something that Islam did get the harder punches and he did get the harder knees. When he hit, you can tell when he kicked or when he knee’d there was a thump in there.
“It wasn’t just a ‘patty cake’ like Vocalo when he was touching him. Not saying that he was playing ‘patty cake’, but what I’m saying is there was a thump that was there, a little different. Yeah, it could have been a lot crisper, a lot of his techniques could have been in lock crisper, but right now we’re just talking about percentages, punch count, punch strength, and what is it that he did. So with the wrestling, I’m just gonna have to give this again… guys, it was such a close fight, but again, I’m gonna have to give the technique, even though I feel like, and with both of these guys, they all gotta work on the three Ts. I have to give it to Islam.”
Who Won?
After watching Makhachev vs. Volkanovski round-by-round a second time around, Cejudo has his victor.
“Overall, I’m gonna have to give this fight— and again guys, I was wrong. Islam beat him three rounds to two. That is the fight breakdown.”
You can watch Cejudo’s full analysis below.
