Alexander Volkanovski's UFC ranking positions remained unchanged on Saturday night despite him suffering a close defeat to No.2 pound-for-pound fighter and lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
The pair's bout had been advertised as being for the pound-for-pound No.1 spot, with Makhachev's lightweight title also on the line as featherweight king Volkanovski moved up. But after being defeated on super-tight scorecards, the UFC have opted to maintain the Australian as the top fighter in the world at any weight class.
Pound-for-pound rankings are, essentially, fictitious fantasy-rankings made based on the premise that if weight weren't an issue and fighters' skillsets could be transferred, one would be superior. A voting panel made up of MMA media members picks all UFC rankings when their votes are averaged based on past and current fighter results.
Volkanovski has argued that he won the fight, and while none of the three judges agreed with that assessment, many felt that he did enough to become a rare two-weight world champion. However, he maintains his featherweight title which he must defend against interim champion Yair Rodriguez before rematching Makhachev.
“A lot of people thought I won that fight, I thought I won that fight, and I moved up,” Volkanovski said yesterday on The MMA Hour. “We’re talking about pound-for-pound. Imagine if we were in the same weight class. I don’t want to be that guy, but if he was just a featherweight in my division, I’d squash him.
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"It’s a walk in the park. No offence to him, but that’s legit. I think I still proved I’m the better fighter and I’m pound-for-pound No. 1. But that’s not up to me. I think he thought he might have lost. He was even saying, ‘We need to do a rematch’ to his corner when he went back to his corner.
"He didn’t say loss, but I mean, he thought, ‘We need to do the rematch’ thinking that I was going to get my hand raised. Then he ended up telling people in the media backstage that he wants a rematch anyway. So, he knows. I’m not taking anything away, it was a close fight.”
Speaking after the fight, Makhachev explained: “I told all media I’m going to try knock him out. I landed many good punches, good knees, but this guy is so strong. I have good skills. I have good coaches in my team: coach Javier, coach Muhammad, and all my corners. The best in the world. I know my skills. That’s why I tried to knock him out, but this guy’s so strong. I landed many good punches, many good knees, but he still fighting. I give him big cut, but this guy is a real champion.”
