Returning to Makhachev vs Volkanovski I
After being blindsided by the news that Alexander Volkanovski is storming into Abu Dhabi to take another swing at the lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, this writer decided to revisit their first fight. In an era of UFC oversaturation, where fewer and fewer fights feel great, the initial meeting between the featherweight and lightweight champs lived up to every expectation and proved to be a battle worthy of two of the finest fighters this sport has yet produced.
On the Feet
The glaringly obvious read on the striking of Makhachev versus Volkanovski I is that Alexander Volkanovski relies far too heavily on the shifting right hook when his opponent is a southpaw. The shifting right hook is effective for Volkanovski as it allows him to cover a great deal of distance and places him directly on top of the opponent. It is essentially a more artful form of just sprinting in on the opponent and asking “where’s your reach advantage now?”
Fig. 1
The move is at its best when Volkanovski flicks a right straight to hide the beginning of his shift and then throws the right hook—now his lead hand—once he has arrived in a southpaw stance. One particularly successful variation is when Volkanovski throws the right hook to the body and follows with a southpaw left straight to the head. In the first round Volkanovski was able to stumble Makhachev with a simple left straight off a shifting right hook against the guard.
But there are severe issues with the shifting right hook. Compare it to Volkanovski’s offence against orthodox fighters which is built around the jab, the step up inside low kick and the right calf kick. Volkanovski can feint and play with his opponent’s expectations without opening up, and when he does strike for real he doesn’t have to risk that much.
The shifting right hook is a complete commitment of Volkanovki’s weight which squares him up in the process. Numerous times through the first fight, Makhachev intercepted Volkanovski or let him fall short and hit him with counters. Even when the shifting right hook carries Volkanovski right to exchanging range, it leaves him there squared up in his less practiced stance and this got him dropped in a trade in round one.
Fig. 2
And of course, committing your weight to a charging technique is doubly risky if the opponent has any intention of timing a reactionary takedown attempt. Islam Makhachev waited until late in the fight to try, but quickly showed what a problem it could prove for Volkanovski even against taller opponents with slower level changes.
Makhachev’s counter punching was a pivotal factor of the fight, and his effective control of distance likely encouraged Volkanovski to get even more fixated on the shifting right hook. Through the early going Makhachev was content with letting Volkanovski’s shifts fall short and throwing the left hand across the top. There were a couple of successful open side counters from Makhachev through the fight when Volkanovski tried to let loose his right hand.
Fig. 3
An open side counter is a feature of a southpaw vs orthodox (open stance) match up. It is a rear hand counter in the wake of the opponent throwing their rear hand. So a southpaw will slide back to the left, drawing out the full length of their opponent’s right hand, and then hammer the left straight or left hook across the top.
Makhachev’s right hook, while lacking the authority of his left hand, was used well on the pivot and allowed him to reposition when Volkanovski seemed to be encroaching on his space and putting him towards the fence.
Figure 4 shows Makhachev drawing out the Volkanovski shifting hook, slapping him with a right hook which mainly connects with the wrist, and turning that into a collar tie to throw Volkanovski by as Makhachev pivots out.
Fig. 4
But Makhachev’s best counter work was not one practiced shot, it was a consistent effort to catch Volkanovski’s head low. So much of Volkanovski’s game is walking that knife edge between getting underneath his opponent’s punches, and getting kneed or kicked or uppercutted while his head is low. Whenever Makhachev hurt Volkanovski with a punch, he pursued and threw a nothing punch followed immediately by a knee up the middle, with the intention of getting Volkanovski to duck onto it.
Often when Volkanovski closed, Makhachev simply reached for the double collar tie. With a few inches of height on Volkanvoski, and Volkanovski’s propensity to duck, there was always the chance of kneeing him in the head but even failing that Makhachev could get off a couple of good knees to the body before Volkanovski could break free. Makhachev even set up a trip to enter his fence work off the double collar later in the fight. Makhachev used his height and length at range to score counters, but by going straight to the double collar tie on the inside he was able to apply his height advantage even in tight.
Figure 5 shows an example of Volkanovski entering with a one-two. Makhachev slips the right straight and attempts to clinch. As Volkanovski drops his hips back, Makhachev’s hands go to the back of Volkanovski’s head for a double collar tie (e). Volkanovski makes a strong posture to avoid an easy knee to dome, and Makhachev scores a knee to the body.
Fig. 5
Continuing on this theme, Figure 6 shows a matching of wits from the clinch. With his back to the fence Makhachev is brilliant at taking the overhook and digging the opponent with short, annoying knees (c). The opponent inevitably returns in kind and Makhachev hits a throw on them while they are on one leg. This happened to Nik Lentz, Thiago Moises and Charles Oliveira. Volkanovski chose instead to back out of the clinch, but on the way, Makhachev caught the collar tie and chased him with knees once more.
Fig. 6
While his striking can appear a bit meat and potatoes, and he seldom works in combination at all, Makhachev does have a neat trick which is invaluable. He can show you one punch and then change the path. A great example would be this scooping left hand against a cornered Volkanovski. He anticipates Volkanovski ducking, turns his shoulders to start the punch, and follows Volkanovski’s head to the slip.
Fig. 7
Another great example is the loopy left that Makhachev threw as a lead through the bout. When it missed it looked like a bizarre and silly punch—why would you lead with a looping rear hand? But when it landed you could see the craft at work.
Fig. 8
The moment Makhachev pushes his left shoulder forward, Volkanovski reaches for the obvious left straight. It is the quicker, straighter punch. Then the looping blow goes clean around the side of Volk’s parry. This is a very peculiar shot and one that Prince Naseem Hamed had great success with. It is obviously slower than throwing the straight but the lag is worth it if the opponent goes to parry the more likely punch.
In the Clinch
If the first pleasant surprise of the fight was Islam Makhachev’s counter striking, the second was Alexander Volkanovski’s counter grappling. Of particular interest was Volkanovski’s cage positioning. Often when along the fence he would concede a back body lock and look to separate hands. Here is an example of Neil Magny doing this against Anthony Rocco Martin. Magny’s right hip and shoulder are against the fence.
Fig. 9
The difference with Volkanovski was his angle. Rather than placing a shoulder to the fence, he turned so that the top of his head was against the corner padding and his buttocks were pointing at the centre of the mat.
Fig. 10
The whole idea of wall wrestling is less than thirty years old so new developments are exciting and names aren’t exactly set in stone, but whatever Volkanovski calls this position it seems to have a trade off. With the hip and shoulder to the fence the fighter can prevent the man attacking the back body lock from putting a hook in and climbing on his back standing. From Volkanovski’s position he is open to that—and Makhachev did at several points insert and then remove a hook. Yet Volkanovski’s position does seem to deny the mat return work that Islam Makhachev and his friend / mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov used to dominate fights and exhaust opponents.
Here is a video by Sonny Brown which demonstrates some of Khabib’s mat returns. If you need a fight reference, check out his bout with Abel Trujillo where he set the record for takedowns in a 15 minute fight almost entirely with these mat returns.
Fig. 11
To trip the opponent, Makhachev would have to step around the side, block the knee or foot, and drive Volkanovski forward onto his hands or face. The problem there is that Volkanovski’s head is braced against the cage. At two points in the fight Makhachev decided to go for it anyway and wound up pulling Volkanovski down on top of him and creating a scramble. Figure 12 shows the second of these.
Notice that because Volkanovski is facing into the fence, Makhachev must try to pull him down sideways and ends up falling underneath him.
Fig. 12
Figure 13 shows the continuation of the sequence as Makhachev unlocks his hands to come up on top (something he would never have to do after a successful mat return), and Volkanovksi turns over and smashes down on the whizzer (f), (g). As Makhachev drives up to his feet, Volkanovski circles out and escapes out to distance once again (h).
Fig. 13
Compare that to Thiago Moises’ work when Makhachev was behind him. By pressing his shoulder into the fence, Moises was constantly driven forward onto his hands and when Makhachev stepped down the side he was able to launch Moises off the mat.
Fig. 14
After twenty five terrific minutes of the highest level mixed martial arts you will see, revisiting Makhachev - Volkanovski I left this writer with more questions than conclusions. What if Makhachev leaned more heavily on his kicking game? What if Volkanovski had more offence out of his own southpaw position? Makhachev’s footwork heavy fight left his legs susceptible to kicks on the end of Volkanovski’s combinations—Volk’s team will have seen it so will Makhachev drop some of the movement to be in position to check or stick to the fade aways and pivots of the first fight and hope for the best? Can Volkanovski come up with a more effective escape once Makhachev is on his back if he intends to expose it to the lightweight champion so readily?
There is much, much more to be said about the rematch, but that is next week’s task. For now let us agree that the first fight was a treat and—for the fan of high level martial arts strategy—it is something to be treasured.
Before you go, why not check out Advanced Striking 2.0 - Alexander Volkanovski,
