The performance of Khabib Nurmagomedov already promised to make the UFC 254 tournament one of the most anticipated of the year for Russian fans of mixed martial arts. However, the promotion decided not to stop there and collect several star domestic athletes in one card at once. According to media reports, on October 24, heavyweight Alexander Volkov and Nurmagomedov's teammate Islam Makhachev will also enter the octagon.
Moreover, Volkov has already learned the name of his likely rival. According to the authoritative portals Sherdog and Tapology, he will fight with a representative of the ten strongest heavyweights in the world in the person of Walt Harris. Like the Russian, the American has already managed to perform in 2020, but also failed. MMA legend Alistair Overeem became his offender. At the same time, in the first round, he knocked down the Dutchman, but he miraculously recovered and subsequently won by technical knockout.
As for Volkov, after being defeated by Curtis Blades, he again lost the opportunity to join the championship race and fell back to eighth place in the division's ranking. In this regard, his possible meeting with Ngannu lost all meaning. Francis has repeatedly expressed his desire to fight Alexander and challenged him on social networks. But if earlier the victory would have become a serious argument for the Cameroonian in determining the future first contender for the belt, now it would not have had such an effect.
In this regard, Alexander had to count on a duel with less status representatives of the top 10, but almost all of them already had plans for the near future. So, Alexei Oleinik is expected to fight with Derrick Lewis (at the tournament in Las Vegas on August 8), the aforementioned Overeem - with Augusto Sakai, and Junior Dos Santos - with Jairzinho Rosenstrik. Given the fact that Volkov was unlikely to be satisfied with the prospect of a battle with a fighter not from the top ten, Harris remained the only option.
For Alexander, the battle with Walt is unlikely to be an easy walk, but this time there is every reason to consider the Russian a favorite. The opponent has good standing and ground and pound skills, but very rarely forces the transfer to the ground. In the UFC, he averages 0.32 takedowns in 15 minutes, which is more than two times less than Volkov's (0.72). Although the latter was never considered an adherent of the wrestling style.
In this regard, it will be much easier for Alexander to work in a rack, because he can practically not be afraid for a sudden passage to his legs. But it was this in many ways that became the reason for his unsuccessful performance in the duel with Blades. The Muscovite was forced to constantly think about protection from transfer to the ground, and the American skillfully used this to mask his punches. By comparison, Curtis averages 6.98 takedowns in three rounds, with 55% of them finishing well.
That being said, you shouldn't underestimate Harris either. For a fighter weighing 120 kilograms, he is very fast, which he showed perfectly in two victorious fights in 2019. Then one of his "victims" was Oleinik, who clearly did not count on a sharp start in the performance of his counterpart. Already at the ninth second, Alexei missed a hard knee in a jump, and a second later he collapsed on the canvas after a powerful left straight.
In addition, the fact that Harris works in a left-sided stance can become another difficulty for Volkov. For right-handers, this is often a serious problem and it will be extremely interesting if Alexander can handle it. Walt will be his first left-handed opponent in the UFC, which only adds to the intrigue.
It should be noted that earlier Volkov already had the experience of performing in the undercard of a fight with the participation of Nurmagomedov. True, it cannot be called positive. In October 2018, he fought Lewis at UFC 229 and suffered a disappointing defeat. The Russian confidently acted in the cage and was leading in rounds, but was knocked out 11 seconds before the bell. So his streak of four victories in a row in the championship was interrupted, and with it the chance to fight for the title with Daniel Cormier was missed.
If Volkov's likely rival is known, then the name of Makhachev's possible counterpart has not yet been announced. At the moment, the Russian occupies 11th place in the rating and probably counts on a meeting with one of the strongest representatives of the category. And unlike Alexander's rivals, most of Islam's possible opponents do not yet have scheduled battles.
Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson, who are hardly interested in a duel with a dangerous fighter outside the top ten, can be excluded from this list, as well as Conor McGregor, who has not yet announced his resumption of his career. It is hardly worth counting on a meeting with Dan Hooker or Paul Felder. The Australian appeared in the Octagon at the end of June and may not have time to get in shape by the end of October, and the American has promised to take a short career break.
At the same time, the next five athletes can be considered as candidates for Makhachev's opponents. The most inconvenient of them are Charles Oliveira and Diego Ferreira. Both are in great shape and have long and successful streaks. At the same time, the first of them is one of the best specialists in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the UFC and is capable of delivering serious problems if transferred to the ground, and the second looks very impressive in a stand. Moreover, Islam could see this for himself at the tournament in Abu Dhabi. There, the Brazilian dealt with Mayrbek Taisumov, and in January he “strangled” the ex-champion Anthony Pettis.
Compared to them, Al Iaquinta and Kevin Lee seem to be much more comfortable opponents. Nurmagomedov had already met with the first of them and once again demonstrated that he did not belong to the elite fighters of the division. The second is clearly going through hard times. In the last five battles, he suffered three defeats, and two of them were early.
It should be noted that the most logical thing would be to arrange a battle between Makhachev and Lee. In recent years, athletes regularly clashed on social networks and challenged each other to a duel. One gets the impression that now is the perfect moment to finally arrange this fight. Islam and Kevin occupy adjacent places in the ranking and do not have planned battles. Thus, the UFC could not only give Islam a serious test, but also put an end to a long dispute between rivals.
Like Volkov, Makhachev previously performed as part of the same event with Nurmagomedov, but he did it much more successfully. In September 2019, he opened for the champion at a show in Abu Dhabi and took over Davi Ramos. The fight lasted all three rounds, following which the judges gave preference to the Russian.