Joe Rogan has opened up on the massive lightweight title fight set to go down in February.
In the main event of UFC 284 in Perth, Australia, Makhachev is looking to defend his lightweight title for the first time when he faces the featherweight champ in Volkanovski. It’s a massive fight, but Rogan believes a key factor in the fight will be the Aussie’s speed.
Joe Rogan’s Prediction
“Has Islam seen anybody that can move as fast as Volkanovski?” Rogan said in a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience (via MMAJunkie). “What if he starts catching him? What if he catches him a few times on the feet, and if he can avoid a takedown? I mean, you’re dealing with a significantly quicker guy, probably. (Makhachev has) probably never fought anybody that quick.”
Although Joe Rogan thinks Alexander Volkanovski will be quicker than Islam Makhachev, on the flip side, he does wonder how Volkanovski will deal with the size of Makhachev. The Dagestani native is a bigger lightweight while Volkanovski is not a massive guy and is moving up in weight.
“Do you think he’s big enough to compete against a guy like Islam, who’s a really big ’55?” Rogan said. “Islam is big. I don’t know what he’s cutting, but he’s got the perfect physique for that weight class. He’s very, very lean. He makes the weight, and he’s obviously way bigger when he’s competing. He doesn’t look anything like a ’55-pound guy. The thing is the grappling. If you look at Volkanovski, he’s got really good takedown defense and he can take guys down. He took Max Holloway down a bunch, but he’s not the biggest guy even at ’45.”
There’s no question that both Volkanovski and Makhachev have extreme confidence they will get their hand raised at UFC 284. Even Joe Rogan sees a path to victory for both but we will all see who will get their hand raised in February in Australia.
