Victory outside the categories – Sport – Kommersant

Russian mixed martial arts (MMA) star Islam Makhachev won one of the most important and most competitive fights in the history of the sport. Defending the champion title of the UFC, the main promotion in it, in lightweight (up to 70 kg), he coped with the featherweight champion (up to 66 kg) Australian Alexander Volkanovski and took away the status of the best fighter from his opponent, regardless of category.

After the fight, which took place as part of the UFC 284 tournament in Perth, in the homeland of Alexander Volkanovski, from the messages left about him on Twitter by various famous people in the world of mixed martial arts, one could make a small book. It seems that each of them considered it necessary to write at least a couple of enthusiastic words about this. Henry Cejudo, a former UFC bantamweight champion, admitted that he had never seen such competitive fights in his form. Brett Okamoto, one of MMA’s most respected experts, never wanted so much in his life that a belt match consisted not of five five-minute rounds, but of six: the sixth here, in his opinion, was fatally necessary. And Teddy Atlas, the coach who trained a whole squad of chic boxers, believed that this fight was the rarest case when, according to its results, there was no loser.

But, of course, there was still a loser in it. As is the winner, 31-year-old Islam Makhachev, a friend and student of the recent king of mixed martial arts Khabib Nurmagomedov, who in October last year, after a series of spectacular performances, won the title that belonged to his mentor, and now won an even more significant victory than that, over the Brazilian Charles Oliveira . A victory that instantly threw Makhachev from a niche where just MMA heroes live, into a niche intended for the great titans of the species.

It was the first fight in the history of the UFC, in which not just two champions from different divisions met, but fighters occupying the top two lines in the ranking of the best among the best, regardless of the categories.

And everything was extremely fair. The site for both was both their own and someone else’s at the same time. The fight was held in the weight of Makhachev, but in the homeland of Volkanovski, who headed the classification. Although salt is still not in the formalities, but in the filling. It fully corresponded to the ideas of what such a special match should be.

The match both confirmed the most banal of the forecasts, and resolutely refuted them, at the same time proving the correctness of the constantly sounded thesis that these two men with their talent will definitely find something to surprise each other, that everything will not go according to a clear, pre-drawn template. Of course, there was no smell of a template here.

Well, let’s say, everyone was drawn in advance to give Islam Makhachev with his legendary Dagestan school a colossal superiority in the fight – especially against an opponent who was ten centimeters shorter than him and not large even by featherweight standards. The superiority was, but not colossal, but quite ordinary, because Volkanovski all the time appeared to be a terribly dodgy and calm master of defense in any situation that threatened trouble on the ground. He fell for Makhachev’s holds and passes, he fell on the floor and pressed against the octagon railing – and at the same time he had the feeling that all these moments were included in his plan, that he knew how to avoid trouble without letting himself be caught on any of the branded receptions of the Russians, it was too persistent.

Surprisingly, the Australian was in a really difficult, almost critical position for the entire fight only once, when in the fourth round he fell into Islam Makhachev’s perfect “triangle” trap with a tight grip on the body with his legs and arms, with an attempt to squeeze his neck into a steel vise .

But at the same time, it cannot be said that Alexander Volkanovski was exclusively surviving in those seconds. He, defending himself, still beat Makhachev.

Volkanovski, with his speed and sharpness, was drawn to give in advance a great advantage in the stance, in various boxing and kickboxing tricks. There was superiority, but again relative. He dealt Makhachev seven dozen blows, which in MMA are called significant. Some of them were from the category of those after which the referee in boxing would certainly count the knockdown. A Russian has never had to endure such a cannonade. But the fact is that the Australian himself missed several blows from Makhachev, which clearly shocked him. The fact is that in this aspect the Russian fighter did not look clumsy against the background of his opponent.

This fight was terribly difficult to evaluate from the outside. It is clear that a higher degree of pressure, or something, performed by Islam Makhachev hinted at the end of the fourth round, no matter how enthusiastically the audience met the rescue of Alexander Volkanovski from strangulation, his leadership, but in the final round an event occurred that brought into the overall picture completely perishing all mixed stroke. Closer to his finish line, Volkanovski nevertheless knocked Makhachev down and fired at the head so powerfully that he finally laid his opponent on the floor and ended up on top of him. Now, for almost a whole minute, the Russian survived, closing himself from the Australian fists.

He survived, and the broadcasters of the ESPN show wondered who would be declared the winner of this fight. Yes, anyone who watched it should have drowned in such reflections, because everything was thin. And also this infernal noise in the hall brought to ecstasy, which is almost all for Alexander Volkanovski … After all, such nuances often become a small weight that sets in motion the scales that have just been frozen tightly.

But everything, despite the misfire in the fifth round, turned out in favor of Islam Makhachev. All three judges gave him the victory: two – with a minimal margin, 48:47, the third – with a solid margin, 49:46.

And Makhachev could, with a clear conscience, stating the obvious, say into the microphone to the buzzing stands: “Whether you like it or not, I am the best fighter in the world.” And after that – go to the locker rooms to receive congratulations by phone from Khabib Nurmagomedov, who waited for the final maturation of the heir in a direct sports line.

Alexey Dospekhov