- Dana White was blown away by Alexander Volkanovski’s UFC 290 performance
- The UFC boss suggests that they might say yes to Volk’s demand to rematch Islam Makhachev
UFC president Dana White was unsurprisingly thrilled to have witnessed Alexander Volkanovski dismantle Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 to retain his featherweight title. Volk now has his eyes locked on a rematch with reigning lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, which the UFC boss may also push for.
Volk was a freak of Nature
Speaking to reporters in his UFC 290 post-fight press conference, White started off by raving about how incredible display of all-around fighting courtesy of “The Great,” who TKO’d Rodriguez in Round 3.
“Total domination,” White said. “… I mean, yeah, he put on an unbelievable performance tonight. Yair is so talented. Volk even at the end started to strike with him, staying on the outside. Yair was trying to keep him on the outside, hitting him with some big shots, and Volk was standing with him. The guy is an absolute freak. Extremely talented.”
When asked if Volk’s performance would serve as his ticket to a rematch with Makhachev, White said he couldn’t confirm anything at this point but the UFC are willing to listen to the demands of such a remarkable performer like Volkanovski.
“I don’t know, let’s see how his surgery goes and what happens,” he explained. “He’s at one of those places in his career that whatever he wants to do, what are you going to say? This guy has literally proven himself a million times. Many people believe he won the Islam fight. Whatever he wants to do, we’ll probably roll with it.”
It needs a Continuation
In the first fight, Makhachev secured a unanimous decision win to put an end to Volkanovski’s undefeated UFC run. The way Volk sees it, a rematch needs to happen because a rivalry between two of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of this generation shouldn’t just end with one fight.
“I think it’s a fight everyone wants to see. It was literally that type of fight. It was that close. It was a cracking fight… He lived up to the hype. I lived up to the hype and that fight lived up to the hype. We just need to see [the rounds] 5 to 10,” Volkanovski previously said.
In addition to Makhachev, there is another rising star in the UFC featherweight division, undefeated contender Ilia Topuria, who is gaining attention as a potential title challenger. However, according to “The Great,” he believes that Topuria’s time will come, but facing him at this stage would result in an easy victory.
