Frankie never held a title after the age of 30 despite the fact he had the option to pursue one at LW, FW or BW and he made an attempt and failed at FW and went 1-3 at BW and some feel he was really 0-4 at BW.
Penn never held a title after the age of 31 and he was able to win titles at both LW and WW when younger.
Time is not on Volk’s side here.
36 year old Cejudo just returned and failed to capture the BW title and he just turned 37.
Henry walked away from his titles at 33 so never defended one at 35+ either.
Cruz lost his last title at 31 and never got it back at BW.
I’m 84.3% sure Volk and Cejudo lose tonight.
Only 12 of the top 50 ranked FW’s in the world at fightmatrix are 35+.
Cub Swanson is the only one 40+,
He is like the Yoel Romero of FW, Father Time turns down fights with Cub and Yoel, just ducks them.
HKP, I saw a headline this week that the UFC changed up the co main event. Was it originally supposed to be Cejudo?
Emmett is powerful but a bit one note which is why he was handled by both Yair and Topuria. Yair finished him tho. Was prob good for Topuria to get that 5 round experience tho.
Agreed but it’s not like Volk showed any signs of slowing down.
If he didn’t step in short notice and get knocked out by Islam would anyone even be doubting him?
Wow Wandy!!
Well I think even without the Islam KO people talking stats would have been doubting him but you are right that he looked great in that first Makhachev fight.
Knowing Volk was 35 with zero FLW’s through LW’s ever winning a UFC title at the age of 35+… it was not looking good for him to me.
As they say, Father Time is undefeated.
Someone asked Dana at the post fight presser about his comment that Wand had been Pete Rose’d and would never be in the HOF after he ran from USADA. Dana said he didn’t even remember saying that.
On another note they should have put Shogun in with Wand.
i dont think so
Topuria reels in a new era for the UFC featherweight division.
Topuria has added 700k IG followers since the fight.
BTW if he fights Ortega or Yair, the promotion will (rightly) milk that both the champion and challenger speak Spanish (Ortega is fluent). Would be huge for promoting in Spain.
I’d like to see Topuria fight the Ortega Yair winner next, them or Max depending on how this Gaethje fight goes.
Max is still 20-0 at FW since losing to Conor when he is not fighting Volk.
Seeing Volk get a title shot after he just got KOed 2x in four months just does not sound great.
Max is in the same position with Volk where Bobby Knuckles was with Izzy. However, both Volk and Izzy have now been dethroned while they remain strong contenders (Bobby Knuckles less so due to the comprehensive loss to the current champ to DDP).
Regarding his return, Volk is in a terrible position. As you said, 2 KO losses in 4 months is bad. Very bad. I am not convinced the concussion against IM was particularly serious but he was completely shut off by IT and he MUST take time off to let his head heal the best it can. When Hearns starched Duran, Manny Steward visited Duran’s dressing room after and told him to take a minimum of 12 months off after the KO or his chin would never be the same. However, that would make Volk at least 36 before he comes back and he simply would never beat IT anyway.
Volk’s best option right now is to retire or take a year off then fight and beat someone not too threatening then return back his family and riches. If he does anything else, he is simply going end up being beaten again by either a top contender or IT. It’s going to be hard for him to go from almost beating IM to thrashing Yair to then getting stopped quickly by both IM and IT. But that’s the sport. I hope he can find peace with what he has achieved and what else he has in his life.
Good analysis. Yeah it would be real hard for him to take a lot of time off especially since he was just of the mindset of winning the LW title and then being so active he could defend both titles at the same time and fight 4x a year. That was his stated goal. Thing is, he did almost beat Makhachev the first time.
I think there is a 0% chance Volk retires right now but hopefully he does take some time off and then yeah, a safer fight before another title shot would be good.
Spot on with the best options in regard to a late career surge. It would take tremendous patience and a financial hit this year to go that route.
