Islam Makhachev doubles down saying Australians can’t wrestle: “Sorry, but this is true.”
Dagestan’s Islam Makhachev is confident heading into his lightweight title defense against Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284.
Makhachev is a wrestling-focused fighter who has drilled alongside Abdulmanap and Khabib Nurmagomedov for his entire life. The UFC lightweight world champion has claimed that Australians cannot wrestle. Makhachev is not worried about the wrestling acumen of the featherweight world champion Volkanovki.
In the pre-fight press conference, Makhachev said:
“Brother, I follow all wrestling, wrestling competitions. I saw all world championships, Olympic games, and international tournaments. I don’t see some people from Australia there. Sorry, but this is true.”
Alexander Volkanovski has a background in Greco-Roman wrestling and was an Australian national champion before switching his focus to Rugby. Eventually, he would find MMA and concentrate on his striking talents.
Islam Makhachev aiming for a knockout win at UFC 284
Islam Makhachev captured the lightweight throne last year when he submitted Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace, Charles Oliveira. Now, he wants to knock out the UFC featherweight world champion Alexander Volkanovski when they clash.
In the UFC pre-fight press conference, Makhachev explained:
“We’re working on that a lot. My goal, I want to knock him out because I have everything for that. Last fight I say before the fight all week to the media, I want to choke Oliveira because he has most finishes in the UFC and [look] what I did. And same goal here. I want to knock him out.”
Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski is the UFC featherweight champion is has impressive wins over Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo, Max Holloway, and several others. He will be going up in weight the challenge for the lightweight world title at UFC 284.
See the full UFC 284 press conference below:
