Dan Hooker accuses Islam Makhachev of strategically avoiding Alexander Volkanovski rematch

Islam Makhachev faced his career's sternest test in Alexander Volkanovski when the two met in the main event of UFC 284 in Perth, Australia.

Islam Makhachev put his lightweight belt on the line for the first time against the featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. The two had a closely contested fight with the rounds going either way but it was Makhachev who came out on top at the end of the five championship rounds.

Although it was a unanimous decision victory for the lightweight champion, the fight result could have gone the way of 'The Great' too. Fans and fellow professionals were divided on the result as the visible fatigue on Makhachev was telling of the challenge that Volkanovski had posed him.

Alexander Volkanovski's fellow City Kickboxing teammate Dan Hooker spoke highly of him and highlighted the pressure faced by Islam Makhachev. He reasoned that the Dagestani fighter did not want to go up against 'Volk' immediately because of how difficult it was to scrape a win.

He said:

“Yeah, like I thought of how close it was and they should have run that back. But yeah, obviously, Alex is still getting an incredible opportunity. Main event, Yair Rodriguez, I feel like they’re in - the main event of the biggest card of the year - like that’s a crazy opportunity. But yeah, if you go back and watch the fight, like you can see why Islam doesn’t want to jump back in straight away, you know what I mean. Like that was a close matchup, it could have gone either way. So, pretty close fight.”

Check out Dan Hooker's full comments below:

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Alexander Volkanovski wants rematch against Islam Makhachev by the end of the year

Alexander Volkanovski has not let one loss deter him from challenging for the lightweight title again.

He is set to face off against interim featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez in a title unification bout at UFC 290. He mentioned on his YouTube channel that soon after that he would like to go up against Islam Makhachev a second time.

Volkanovski said:

“I was asked after the fight [with Makhachev], do I want to wait around for the rematch, do I want to fight at featherweight, what do I wanna do? I don’t want to wait around...I ain’t waiting. I’d rather fight featherweight then do the rematch sometime at the end of the year...When I do get that lightweight belt, you know I’ll be keeping both divisions busy."

'The Great' has previously mentioned his intention of being a two-division champion and actively fighting at both weight classes.

Check out his comments below: