Volkanovski reveals why he treasures UFC 284 loss to Makhachev: 'No one had ever taken me that far'

Alexander Volkanovski has reflected warmly on his unanimous decision loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 284 in February 2023, describing their first encounter as the most technically rich fight of his career and one he believes will be studied by martial artists for years to come.

Speaking with Kris Fade, the former featherweight champion explained why he holds the bout in such high regard despite the defeat. “I loved that first fight so much because — like, it’s weird, because I’m saying I love it as if it was easy. No, it wasn’t easy,” Volkanovski said. “What I loved about it was, no one had ever taken me that far when it comes to techniques.”

Volkanovski pointed specifically to the grappling exchanges, an area he considers a personal strength, as the source of his admiration. “Takedown defense is my thing. I’m pretty hard to hold down. I’ve got a lot of my own cool little tricks,” he said. “A lot of times I don’t ever get to use all of them. So I might have an answer — someone does something great, and I’ll have an answer; we might only go two or three layers deep, but he took me three, four layers deep.”

The Australian said the depth of that technical chess match is what sets the fight apart. “Further down the track, people can study that and look deep into it, and be like, ‘Well, look at this, look at that!’ If they really start studying some of that stuff, they can see some magic techniques in there, and fundamentals. The understanding of the game that we both had is something that it’s going to be hard to get two athletes with that type of knowledge putting it all on the line like we did.”

The fight earned the UFC’s Fight of the Year award and is widely regarded as one of the finest technical bouts in the promotion’s history. Makhachev has reciprocated the respect, previously naming Volkanovski among his toughest-ever opponents.

The two men met again just eight months later at UFC 294 in October 2023, a short-notice rematch that Makhachev won by first-round knockout. Despite that result, Volkanovski says there is no ill will between them — and the pair are now planning an extended trip together to Dagestan.

“We are going,” Volkanovski confirmed. “It won’t be two or three years. I was like, ‘Maybe a few days,’ and he said, ‘That’s not long enough. Two-three weeks. Let’s go two-three weeks.’ So we’ll definitely do that. Obviously we’ll get some training in; we’ll do the cooking stuff, but even hunting. He does horseback hunting. Hunting on horseback. And I’m just like, wow!”

Volkanovski added that the pair have already cooked together and that he is eager to capture the experience. “I love all that stuff. I love the content that we can get, and that’s just next level. So I can’t wait to go and do that with him.”