Daniel Cormier was impressed by Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284.
Volkanovski – who is the UFC’s featherweight champ – moved up in weight to challenge Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title at UFC 284. In the lead-up to the scrap, Makhachev was a sizeable favorite and many expected him to run through Volkanovski.
However, that is far from what happened as Volkanovski had success on the feet – including dropping Makhachev in the fifth round. When the fight went to the scorecards, many were torn on who won, but it was Makhachev edging out a decision. It was a great fight and Cormier – who is Makhachev’s teammate – says Volkanovski made the lightweight champ look human.
Daniel Cormier on Alexander Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev
“Alexander Volkanovski was the first person to make Islam Makhachev look human,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “Granted, he made him look human, but he still didn’t win the fight. And I think because of the praise and the admiration that Alexander gets for his performance, I think it speaks to how special Makhachev is.”
Although some thought Volkanovski should’ve got his hand raised at UFC 284, Cormier doesn’t think so. Instead, he says he believes Makhachev won 48-47 and was shocked at the 49-46 scorecards as he says that is a bad scorecard.
“He was landing a lot of the real damaging shots, and he won the fight,” Cormier said. “The feigned outrage that was online was unfair because it’s not real. It’s not real. There was no reason for people to seem upset at the result of that fight, because Makhachev won. He won the fight three rounds to two in my opinion. The judge that scored it 49-46, it’s just a bad scorecard.”
Ultimately, it was an incredible fight and given how competitive it was, Daniel Cormier thinks it could be the Fight of the Year. He also wouldn’t rule out a rematch between Islam Makhachev and Alex Volkanovski.
“All in all, great fight,” Cormier said. “This was a tremendous fight. And to be this early in the year, this one has potential because of who they are to still be in the mix for Fight of the Year by the end of the year, which was amazing.”
