I had Islam comfortably RD’s 1 & 2. Volk I thought just eeked out RD 3 and by RD 5 I thought Islam was fatigued and Volk took comfortably as his best round. So for me it was RD 4 that was the deciding round.
I get that sounds bizarre because Islam took his back 2 minutes in and and kept it. On re-watching I see those last 3 minutes of the round as basically Islam taking a rest and Volk using his main advantage, cardio, to land better shots and cause damage better than whatever control Islam was demonstrating by trying get the choke and effectively just spending the round trying to tie Volk’s arms up. By the end of round it looked like Islam was just trying to hold on and getting tired whilst somehow Volk just has an endless supply of energy to burn. That’s why I think it was his round and somehow he made the guy in the dominant position suffer for it more.
Volk showed his toughness, strength, fight IQ (especially in take down defence) and most important of all, his cardio. And I just don’t see how he can beat Islam on 11 days notice when Islam has had a full camp. With Khabib’s help this time round and no doubt learning from the first fight, I think he gets a choke in RD3.
Unfortunately I agree and think of this as Volk heading into hostile territory to face a larger army and like our ancestors did at the Battle of Thermopylae and despite the courage of Volkanidas, the enemies army is too large and has too many advantages.
If you think Volk wasn’t staying ready behind the scenes when he knew someone could pull out for the LW title I have a bridge to sell you. He’s even admitted as much.
Sure because “staying ready” is the same thing as having a training camp, date, and location set in stone for months ahead in preparation
I wonder why they don’t rematch at 145 lbs you know Volks weight class… oh wait cause Islam kills himself to make 155 and couldn’t do it because… size lol
You’re putting too much value into a training camp… expecially considering Islam was training for Oliveira which is a completely different opponent. Volk was in the gym every day anyway training to sharpen his skills which is probably preferable.
You’re trying to self-pacify right now because you’re bracing for the fall.
Yeah who needs a training camp for a Title Fight let alone one in a higher weight class… keep ignoring facts but like I said it doesn’t matter because Volk is a Champion and will fight like one regardless of what he is up against.
Volk wont have the cardio advantage he probably had in the first fight. But I think he will have a bigger stand up advantage after seeing Islam for a second time. Volk 3-2 this time around.