Tag: UFC 284

Video: Are you happy with UFC’s handling of lightweight and featherweight titles?

It’s weird that the UFC has booked an interim featherweight title fight on the same night Alexander Volkanoski will compete for another belt.

So here’s the deal.

UFC featherweight champion [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] isn’t defending his title next as, instead, he’ll be going for champ-champ status when he challenged new lightweight champ [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] for the 155-pound title on Feb. 12 at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia. On the same card, an interim featherweight title will be up for grabs when top contenders Josh Emmett and Yair Rodriguez meet inside the octagon.

When you think about it, it’s kind of weird that the UFC has created an interim 145-pound title and booked the fight on the same night that Volkanoski will compete for another belt.

Did the UFC handle these bookings correctly? Do you like the way this played out across both divisions?

Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Farah Hannoun, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Mike Bohn give their thoughts with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia. You can watch their discussion in the video above and check out this week’s full episode below.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 284.

“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel.

Kai Kara-France vs. Alex Perez joins UFC 284 lineup in Perth

A high stakes flyweight matchup between Kai Kara-France and Alex Perez has joined the budding lineup for February’s UFC 284 in Australia.

A high stakes flyweight matchup between [autotag]Kai Kara-France[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Perez[/autotag] has joined the budding lineup for February’s UFC 284 in Australia.

Kara-France (24-10 MMA, 7-3 UFC) and Perez (23-7 MMA, 5-3 UFC) have agreed to meet on the Feb. 11 card, which takes place at RAC Arena in Perth and airs on pay-per-view.

MMA Junkie verified with multiple people close to the situation that agreements for the booking are in place. The people requested anonymity because the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

Kara-France, No. 4 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie flyweight rankings, will attempt to rebound from an interim title fight loss to Brandon Moreno at UFC 277 in July. The defeat snapped the 29-year-old’s three-fight winning streak, which included victories over former UFC champ Cody Garbrandt and Askar Askarov.

No. 9-ranked Perez, meanwhile, will look to buck a two-fight losing skid. The 30-year-old former title challenger has only competed twice in the past two years, with defeats to champ Deiveson Figueiredo and fellow top contender Alexandre Pantoja.

The latest UFC 284 lineup now includes:

  • Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski – for lightweight title
  • Yair Rodriguez vs. Josh Emmett – for interim featherweight title
  • Paulo Costa vs. Robert Whittaker
  • Zhang Mingyang vs. Tyson Pedro
  • Jack Jenkins vs. Don Shainis
  • Parker Porter vs. Justin Tafa
  • Josh Culibao vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
  • Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield
  • Shannon Ross vs. Kleydson Rodrigues
  • Kai Kara-France vs. Alex Perez

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Robert Whittaker: Alex Pereira better matchup than Israel Adesanya, but ‘did you see the size of the fella?’

Robert Whittaker likes his chances of reclaiming the UFC middleweight title from Alex Pereira better than he does Israel Adesanya

[autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] likes his chances of reclaiming the UFC middleweight title from [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] better than he does [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag].

Whittaker (24-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) lost twice to Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) in title fights – once by knockout and once in a close decision. But now that Pereira dethroned Adesanya to become champion at UFC 281, Whittaker has a new target.

Stylistically, Whittaker thinks he matches up better against Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC).

“I can say that I think Pereira is a better matchup for me than Israel just because of the way he stands and the way he likes to push forward,” Whittaker said at the UFC 284 press conference. “The way he likes to fight, I feel, gives me a better edge. But in saying that, did you see the size of the fella? Dude’s a giant. He’s an absolute giant, because I’ve been face-to-face with Israel, and it’s surprising to see.

“Israel’s pretty big. He looks tall and lanky, but he’s actually a big dude, and then you see Pereira up against him and just his facial features are bigger. His feet and hands and forearms are massive. Who let this guy in? But still, I think I can take him.”

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Whittaker first has to get past Paulo Costa (14-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) on Feb. 11 at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia. Being down 0-2 against Adesanya, a win over Costa might have increased Whittaker’s chances for a title shot, but the former champ didn’t find himself gloating when Adesanya lost.

“I wanted to come out here and just be like haha, but for one, Izzy’s growing on me,” Whittaker said. “For whatever reason, I think the amount of research and stuff that I’ve done into him has made me actually start to like him. But two, it was such a stellar performance. I would be belittling it trying to take any jabs at it. I think it was a stellar performance between two super high-level athletes and they should both be proud of themselves.”

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Alexander Volkanovski ‘more than OK’ with interim featherweight title fight at UFC 284

While he chases UFC champ-champ status, Alexander Volkanovski is happy to see Josh Emmett and Yair Rodriguez fight for interim gold.

Featherweight champion [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] doesn’t mind the UFC implementing an interim title.

Although Volkanovski (25-1 MMA, 12-0 UFC) has been an active champion, the promotion created an interim title fight after “The Great” decided to move up a division to challenge lightweight champ Islam Makhachev.

At UFC 284 on Feb. 11 in Perth, Australia, Volkanovski will chase dual-champ status when he meets Makhachev in the main event. On that same card, Yair Rodriguez (14-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) and Josh Emmett (18-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) will battle it out for the interim 145-pound belt.

“Look, I’m OK with it,” Volkanovski said at the UFC 284 press conference. “At the end of the day, I’m the champ. So that’s that. So that gives me a clear guy. What a card to do it on, you know what I mean? They get to show me who’s next in that featherweight division here in Australia, as well. So, that builds that fight up anyway. But I’m more than OK with it. Right now, I wanna chase that second belt, so I’m focusing on that.”

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Volkanovski plans on fighting Makhachev then returning to featherweight to defend his title against the winner of Rodriguez and Emmett.

“And then we’ll let them do their thing,” Volkanovski added. “Hopefully put on a show, give me a clear guy, and then you know someone will be holding that interim belt, and I’ll be happy to take them on as soon as possible, because I wanna be active, you know what I mean? And I don’t want people waiting around for me and things like that, even though I don’t think that they would need to, but I think this is good. I think this really sets up for my next fight in featherweight anyway, so I’m more than OK with it.”

For more on the card, check out MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 284.

Daniel Cormier: Alexander Volkanovski undertaking big challenge in Islam Makhachev, but he won’t be undersized

With UFC 284 looming, Daniel Cormier predicts size won’t be an issue for Alexander Volkanovski as he challenges Islam Makhachev.

[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] is one of the few champ-champs in UFC history, so his perspective is certainly worth something.

In 2018, then-light heavyweight champion Cormier moved to heavyweight and captured a second title by knocking out Stipe Miocic. This February, UFC featherweight champion [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] (25-1 MMA, 12-0 UFC) looks to do something similar when he fights lightweight champ [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia.

Even though he has professional and personal relationships with Makhachev due to their ties to American Kickboxing Academy, Cormier thinks Volkanovski shouldn’t be counted out, at least not on the basis of weight.

“The guy is going to be a little heavier, but Volkanovski did not look small in the octagon when he walked in there to challenge Islam,” Cormier told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a news conference Tuesday. “He’s shorter, and it may be an illusion, because Islam is at weight and in shape, and Volkanovski isn’t. He’s out of camp looking a little bigger. He made weight, though, didn’t he? Didn’t he make weight? He still didn’t look small, so he’s not going to be undersized.

“This dude has more talent and more skill than anyone. This challenge he is undertaking is as big as anything that anyone in the UFC has tried to accomplish in terms of trying to become the double champion. It’ll be tough, but I think both of these guys will make for a fantastic fight.”

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Cormier is one of only four fighters to successfully achieve the feat in promotion history. The other three are Conor McGregor, Amanda Nunes and Henry Cejudo.

UFC 284 takes place Saturday, Feb. 11 at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. An interim title fight between Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett is also scheduled for the event.

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Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski set for clash of champions at UFC 284; interim title bout set

It will be champion vs. champion in the main event of UFC 284.

[autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] will have his opportunity to make history on home soil in February.

The UFC featherweight champion is set to take on newly-crowned lightweight champ [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] in the main event of UFC 284 in Perth, Australia on Feb. 12, 2023. The promotion officially announced the bout Saturday.

The event will take place at the RAC Arena and air on pay-per-view.

Volkanovski (25-1 MMA, 12-0 UFC) will return to the lightweight division for the first time since his UFC debut in 2016. This time, the stakes are much higher as he looks to become a two-division champion in his own backyard. Volkanovski expressed his desire to remain very active as he believes he is in his prime and wants to take full advantage.

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Standing his Volkanovski’s path to a second championship is Makhachev (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC), who claimed the lightweight title by defeating Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 in October. During his post-fight interview, Makhachev called for Volkanovski to enter the octagon to begin building hype for their champion vs. champion matchup.

After the lone setback of his career in 2015, Makhachev has blitzed through the lightweight division, rattling off 11-straight wins, including five-straight stoppage wins on his path to UFC gold.

Makhachev will look to secure his first title defense against Volkanovski, who has defended the featherweight title four times.

While Volkanovski moves up, the UFC also announced that [autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag] will face [autotag]Josh Emmett[/autotag] for the interim 145-pound belt on the same UFC 284 card.

With the addition, the UFC 284 lineup includes:

  • Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski – for lightweight championship
  • Yair Rodriguez vs. Josh Emmett – for interim featherweight championship
  • Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa
  • Tyson Pedro vs. Mingyang Zhang
  • Jack Jenkins vs. Don Shainis
  • Justin Tafa vs. Parker Porter
  • Joshua Culibao vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan

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Alexander Volkanovski ‘eating over 4,000 calories a day’ to prep for Islam Makhachev

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski has been putting on size in preparation for his lightweight move and title shot.

NEW YORK – [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] has been putting on size in preparation for his move to lightweight.

UFC featherweight champion Volkanovski (25-1 MMA, 12-0 UFC) is expected to challenge newly crowned lightweight champ [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) next at UFC 284 on Feb. 11 in Perth, Australia.

Volkanovski has fought as high as 170 pounds early in his career, but has found a comfortable and dominant home at 145. Now that he’s looking to capture a second UFC title, Volkanovski has been bulking up.

“We got the dietician (Jordan Sullivan) working on the plan. I’ve got strength and conditioning happening and I’m eating over 4,000 calories a day, which is hard,” Volkanovski told reporters at a news conference in New York on Thursday. “I never thought I’d complain about eating too much food.

“I’m bulking. I’m eating a lot of calories at the moment, so it is good. I’m enjoying it, so I’m going to be pretty stacked fight night.”

An elite grappler, Makhachev took a shot at Volkanovski for his size. But the former rugby player guarantees Makhachev will have a hard time keeping him down and is excited to test him on the feet.

“It’s going to be hard to even get me down and get me exactly where he wants me – flat on my back,” Volkanovski said. “It’s very, very hard to do. I’m very good at scrambling, and again, these short legs are very hard to hold down.

“People want to say he’s well-rounded and things like that. We’ll see if he’s well-rounded, because I’m getting back to my feet and let’s see if his standup is up to what supposedly people are trying to say. Well-rounded? We’ll see, because it’s going to be standup because I know I’m getting back to my feet.”

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Yair Rodriguez to UFC champ Alexander Volkanovski: ‘Are you a man of your word?’

Don’t forget about Yair Rodriguez being in the mix for a shot at UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski.

[autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag] wants a direct shot at the UFC featherweight title – not the interim.

With champion [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] (25-1 MMA, 12-0 UFC) looking to move up in weight and challenge newly crowned lightweight champ Islam Makhachev, numerous top 145-pounders have been vying for a title shot.

Among them is Rodriguez (14-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC), who defeated Brian Ortega by TKO due to injury in July. “El Pantera” reminded Volkanovski of their conversation in July at UFC 277 and is ready to challenge him at UFC 284 on Feb. 11 in Perth, Australia.

“Hey @alexvolkanovski Are you a man of your word? We had a talk in Dallas. Everyone knows I’m next #perth #australia.”

Rodriguez’s finish of Ortega wasn’t a definitive one, but neither was Arnold Allen’s over Calvin Kattar this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 213. Allen also scored a TKO win due to injury after Kattar injured his knee and couldn’t continue. Josh Emmett is also in the running, but his controversial split decision win over Kattar has put the division in a quandary.

However, despite the hungry contenders in the division, four-time defending champ Volkanovski is still eyeing Makhachev. As soon as Makhachev submitted Charles Oliveira at UFC 280, he issued a challenge to Volkanovski at UFC 284 in February.

Are you a man of your word? @MAKHACHEVMMA? 🇦🇺 Let’s make it happen! ✍️ #UFC284

The second I receive the paper, I will sign it, don’t worry ✏️ enjoy your P4P first spot for now 😉

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UFC 284 adds Parker Porter vs. Justin Tafa to lineup

Heavyweights are headed “down under” at UFC 284, as Justin Tafa welcomes Parker Porter to his home continent.

Heavyweights are headed to Australia.

[autotag]Parker Porter[/autotag] will travel into enemy territory when he takes on [autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag] at UFC 284, an event which takes place Feb. 11 at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.

Two people with knowledge of the booking recently informed MMA Junkie of the matchup but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

Porter (13-7 MMA, 3-2 UFC) looks to rebound from a TKO loss to Jailton Almeida in May. The defeat snapped a three-fight winning streak, which included victories over Alan Badout, Chase Sherman, and Josh Parisian.

Tafa (5-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) most recently competed in December, when he snapped a two-fight losing skid with a quick head kick knockout of Harry Hunsucker. Though he won the bout, Tafa missed weight – a first in UFC heavyweight history. He was booked to compete against Don’Tale Mayes at UFC 277 in July, however, withdrew for undisclosed reasons.

With the addition, the UFC 284 lineup now includes:

  • Paulo Costa vs. Robert Whittaker
  • Zhang Mingyang vs. Tyson Pedro
  • Jack Jenkins vs. Don Shainis
  • Parker Porter vs. Justin Tafa

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UFC 284 adds Tyson Pedro vs. Zhang Mingyang to lineup

Tyson Pedro will look to make it three straight wins at UFC 284.

[autotag]Tyson Pedro[/autotag] will look to make it three wins in a row his next time out.

Light heavyweights Pedro (9-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) and [autotag]Zhang Mingyang[/autotag] (16-6 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will face off Feb. 11 at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, UFC officials announced Monday. The bout was first reported by MMA Ecosystem.

Since returning from a three-and-a-half year layoff in 2022, Pedro has scored back-to-back first-round knockouts of Ike Villanueva and, most recently Harry Hunsucker, at UFC 278 in August.

Winner of his past nine in a row, Mingyang is coming off a brutal first-round knockout of George Tokkos on Episode 1 of Road to UFC in June. All 16 of the Chinese fighter’s professional wins have come in the first round.

With the addition, the UFC 284 lineup now includes:

  • Paulo Costa vs. Robert Whittaker
  • Zhang Mingyang vs. Tyson Pedro

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