21 October 2023 , 20:08
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Islam Makhachev KO'd Alex Volkanovski in the first round with a stunning head kick to retain his lightweight title at UFC 294.
Featherweight champion Volkanovski accepted the fight at just 12 days' notice after Charles Oliveira pulled out injured from what would have been own rematch with the Russian. Volkanovski had taken Makhachev the five-round distance eight months ago but this time was unable to last five minutes.
The respective champions tentatively exchanged kicks as the fight begun and Volkanovski showed great defence to avoid the first takedown attempt from Makhachev. The Russian was landing some great kicks and he gave Volkanovski trouble in the clinch with his knees.
Islam Makhachev finishes Alexander Volkanovski (Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)Volkanovski was dropped by a big head kick from Makhachev and he wasted no time in hunting the finish by landing follow-up ground and pound which forced referee Marc Goddard to stop the fight. “I am not celebrating this win today because the crazy thing that is happening around the world," Makhachev said.
"Palestine we stand with you, Israel stop this. I have a great team, we also did this in the locker room. They pushed me very hard in training and that’s why this happened today. [Abu Dhabi] is my second home, thank you to everybody for supporting me.
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“I showed him a couple of low and body kicks first of all, then I changed to high kick. This is the plan that we were training for in the last couple of weeks. I want to thank Alex, he is a real champion. You have to turn his lights out to beat him, he will always fight the whole five rounds."
Volkanovski insisted he wants to return to action in three months' time to defend his 145lb belt. “Great setup, good kick. It’s hard, I don’t like losing but he is a great champion," he said. "I back myself every single time but credit to him. I want the UFC to keep me busy, I don’t do well when I’m not fighting. I’m happy to back down to featherweight in January.”
Earlier, unbeaten Khamzat Chimaev put himself within touching distance of middleweight world title shot by narrowly beating Kamaru Usman in the co-main event. Chimaev had a dominant first round and Usman bounced back well in the following two rounds, but it wasn’t enough as Chimaev improved his undefeated streak to 13 fights.
Johnny Walker and Magomed Ankalaev’s light-heavyweight scrap ended in controversy as the pair tried to fight each other after the bout was bizarrely stopped. Walker seemed dazed by an illegal knee from Ankalaev and the referee stopped the fight upon advice from the cage side doctor after Walker didn’t answer questions to assess whether he was concussed.
There were quick wins for Ikram Aliskerov and Said Nurmagomedov on the main card as they both won their respective fights by first-round stoppage.