There are a number of significant storylines developing out of UFC 294, which is Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
We’ve seen this one before. On Feb. 10 in Perth, Australia, in the main event of UFC 284, featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski, having essentially cleaned out the division, moved up to lightweight to challenge for champion Islam Makhachev’s belt.
“No one has ever broken me and believe me, this guy isn’t going to be the first to do it,” Volkanovski said. That punch helped slow Makhachev’s wrestling shots. If he’d been more successful at connecting with that shot, he’d have been able to keep it from becoming a wrestling/grappling contest. Wrestling takes so much out of one that Volkanovski’s best bet is to try to make it a slugfest. He proved he can do it in spurts, but he has to be able to avoid getting countered as frequently as the last fight. Movement, laterally as well as in and out, will be huge for him.Khamzat Chimaev will face former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in a three-round middleweight bout in the co-main event, with UFC CEO Dana White guaranteeing the winner the next shot at champion Sean Strickland.
“Like Sean Strickland says, we’re going to do the man dance, and it will be my will up against his, and we’ll see who starts to unravel first,” Usman said.“Somebody’s coming to dance and I’m coming to kill somebody,” Chimaev said. “That’s the difference here. I’m not dancing in the cage. I’m coming to smash your face, bro. Sorry.”
Makhachev told Yahoo Sports that his routine was disrupted and that he didn’t eat the way he normally would have. Volkanovski is from Australia and had no such issues.Volkanovski scoffed and said Makhachev still had 30 hours after he weighed in before he had a fight.Chimaev repeatedly blasted Paulo Costa, whom he was originally supposed to fight Saturday, for running. Costa developed staph infection in his right elbow and was declared medically unfit to fight, so Usman replaced him.
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