At UFC 266, Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski retained his UFC featherweight championship in a title thriller with Brian Ortega and took his tally to 20 wins in a row which is the longest unbeaten streak by a fighter on the UFC roster.
Australia’s very own, Alexander Volkanovski made a strong and commanding start to the fight and kept Brian Ortega under a lot of pressure in the initial two rounds of the fight. But as we all know, things can change their course quickly in MMA. In round three of the fight, Ortega caught Volkanovski’s leg in the air and landed a quick jab which put the champ down to the canvas and looked to seal the fight with a mounted guillotine choke but Volkanovski showed how tough he is as he managed to transition it into him being in top mount position but that was a bad sign for the Australian as it allowed Ortega to perform his favourite submission move – the Triangle choke – but the 32-year-old champ found his way out of that too and finished the round with some heavy ground and pound strikes on Ortega who received a length inspection from the doctor because of his swollen eye.
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In round four, Ortega managed to take things to the canvas and locked up another choke. Volkanovski gave a thumbs-up to Herb Dean before escaping and resuming his vicious ground and pound strikes. The fight surprisingly made its way to the judges after the pair traded heavy blows in the final three rounds of the main event.
The judges scored 49-46, 50-45, and 50-44 as Volkanovski retained his title via unanimous decision and took his winning streak to 20 fight wins in a row. He also showed that he’s the best featherweight in the world as he managed to out grappled Ortega just like he outperformed Max Holloway – the best striker in the division.
In the post-fight interview, he said, “ All you doubters, I’m going to prove you wrong time and again. Keep doubting me. I love it. I’ll be an underdog to the day I die”.
Who’s next for the Champion – Alexander Volkanovski?
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Earlier this month, it was confirmed that Yair Rodriguez and Max Holloway are set to headline UFC Fight Night on the 13th of November, the winner of which will become the next title contender in the featherweight division. Another fighter who can challenge Volkanovski for the title is Giga Chikadze who has won each of his seven fights in UFC and many believe that he should be next in line for the title shot.
[Image Credit: UFC]
Shashank Iyer