Alexander Volkanovski

The battle to determine the UFC's best pound-for-pound fighter will go down Feb. 11 when lightweight champion Islam Makhachev defends his belt against featherweight title holder Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia.

The LW belt & P4P status are 𝙊𝙁𝙁𝙄𝘾𝙄𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙔 on the line 👑@MakhachevMMA takes on @AlexVolkanovski in the #UFC284 main event!

[ Feb. 11 | Get your tickets early at https://t.co/UocfFo1z8h 🎟 ] pic.twitter.com/U1jZDEsnlw

— UFC (@ufc) November 12, 2022

Volkanovski is No. 1 in the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings, while Makhachev is No. 3. Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who will defend his belt Saturday against Alex Pereira, sits between the two.

The UFC 284 card also notably includes a middleweight fight between Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa.

The 31-year-old Makhachev is 23-1 and coming off a second-round submission win over Charles Oliveira via an arm-triangle choke to take the vacant UFC lightweight championship at UFC 280 on Oct. 22. He has won his last 11 matches. Four of his last five victories have come via submission.

The 33-year-old Volkanovski is moving up one weight class to take on Makhachev.

Volkanovski has done all he can in the featherweight division after winning the belt against Max Holloway at UFC 245 in December 2019 and defending the title four times. He is 25-1 with 22 straight wins.

Volkanovski last fought in July, when he beat Holloway via unanimous decision at UFC 276.

Alexander Volkanovski said his team is "close" to setting up a bout against Islam Makhachev, per Marc Raimondi of ESPN.

The battle of UFC champions would take place at UFC 284 on Feb. 12 in Perth, Australia.

"We're obviously pushing for it," Volkanovski said. "Everyone wants it. We're going to make it happen."

Volkanovski has emerged as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the latest UFC rankings after successfully defending his featherweight title against Max Holloway, his third win against the former champ. The Australian is now 25-1 in his professional career and is undefeated since joining UFC in 2016.

The next challenge for him is moving up in weight class, trying to join Conor McGregor as the only person to hold the lightweight and featherweight titles at the same time.

Makhachev is rated the No. 3 pound-for-pound fighter behind Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya, but his size and experience could make him a tough opponent in a potential bout.

The 31-year-old earned the UFC lightweight title in October with a win over Charles Oliveira by submission. He is 23-1 in MMA, with his only loss coming in 2015.

Volkanovski believes the fight will provide an opportunity to further prove himself.

"It's going to be like a David and Goliath, because everyone thinks he's the strongest man on the planet, best grappling anyone has ever seen," Volkanovski said. "The way they're talking about him—it's just going to look incredible when I get the job done."

Oh, so you thought Islam Makhachev versus Alexander Volkanovski was a done deal? Think again. This is MMA, where nothing is ever cut-and-dried.

After Makhachev dominated the great Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 on Oct. 22 to capture the lightweight title, there was plenty of momentum for him to defend his belt against featherweight champ Volkanovski, who used to fight at lightweight (and welterweight) and was keen to move up a weight class to vie for the 155-pound title and a chance to become just the fifth fighter to simultaneously hold two UFC belts at the same time.

The two men went so far as to meet in the Octagon following Makhachev's victory. But since then, confusion has set in. Volkanovski suggested on Twitter that Makhachev wasn't quite as eager for the bout as he seemed to be while renewing a call for the fight to happen in his home country of Australia.

Are you a man of your word? @MAKHACHEVMMA? 🇦🇺 Let’s make it happen! ✍️ #UFC284

— Alex Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) November 4, 2022

Makhachev himself, while indicating he was looking for his next fight, also expressed confusion and a little frustration over the logistics surrounding the bout, opening the door to further uncertainty.

I’m not sure what UFC wants, February Australia or March Vegas, I honestly don’t care about location and opponent, I never choose opponents. Just send a contract and stop playing games

— Makhachev Islam (@MAKHACHEVMMA) November 5, 2022

Here's what we know for sure: Volkanovski is the UFC's current pound-for-pound kingpin and has earned a shot at double-champ status. Makhachev, after being unranked on that illustrious list prior to UFC 280, is now third, behind only Volkanovski and middleweight champ Israel Adesanya. These are two highly skilled and terrifying champs, one with surefire Hall of Fame credentials and one who looks to be well on his way.

But that doesn’t magically make Volk-Makhachev happen. So, what's realistic for the Dagestani's first title defense? Here are the three options.

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Alexander Volkanovski

OK, let's get this one out of the way. Even with fresh doubt surrounding the matchup, it's probably still the most likely scenario.

Reading between the lines, the key hang-up here appears to be location. Volkanovski’s home country of Australia was originally expected to be the landing spot, but Las Vegas now appears to be in the mix.

No matter where it happens, here's hoping they can get something done. Makhachev (5'10") would have a size advantage, making his stellar grappling game even harder to deal with.

But Volkanovski is an MMA computer and an absolute machine in the striking game, where he leads active featherweights in significant strike accuracy (56.6 percent) and striking differential (3.12) while sitting third in strikes landed per minute (6.97), per UFC stats. This is a guy who knows how to find your chin. He'll need that tool to tame the Makhachev attack.

Any of these fights would be compelling, but this one would be appointment viewing.

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Beneil Dariush

Perhaps hoping to boost his own case, Dariush recently told Bella Michaels of ABC affiliate KRGV (h/t Harvey Leonard of MMA News) that Volk-Makhachev may not be a done deal just yet—and perhaps not the best idea even if it is:

"I don’t know who I'm fighting. The UFC's talking about making Makhachev and Volkanovski happen, but that’s not for sure either. If you think about it, there's people [Volkanovski] can fight and there's people Islam can fight, and then they can build that fight up in the future, the lightweight champion and the featherweight champion. We'll see what happens. I'm not really sure."

The best way to help one's own cause, of course, is to take care of business on the field of competition and to do so in a way that will stick in the minds of fans and UFC brass. Mission accomplished on that front for Dariush, who hammered favored hot shot Mateusz Gamrot over three rounds for a unanimous-decision victory further down the UFC 280 main card. It was Dariush's eighth straight win, dating back to 2018.

Oliveira may have a case for a rematch, but it's not as strong as that of other fighters who have yet to face Makhachev. Why? Because he was just dominated by Makhachev. Usually instant rematches only happen following a controversial decision. Plus, with a division this deep, it's time to open the playing field a bit.

Dariush may not have massive name value, but he's been trying his level best to change that with his work inside of the cage. It may be ready to pay off in the form of a title shot. If not, a title eliminator between Dariush and Oliveira could help clear up the back end of the contender picture.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdIBWcQugJ4

Winner Between Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler

These two will do battle on the UFC 281 main card going down at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 12.

After this possibility and the others listed here, there's a steep drop-off among the other candidates in terms of likelihood. But if the UFC decides Volkanovski will stay at 145 pounds for now—or the pair can't get a deal done—or if the promotion believes that Dariush still lacks the star power needed to tentpole a pay-per-view, either of these men would be a ready-made challenge for Makhachev.

Add in the intrigue that comes from the fact that Poirier, maybe the most famous non-Conor McGregor lightweight in the world, was beaten pretty handily by retired lightweight GOAT and Makhachev friend and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov back in 2019.

Poirier versus Chandler seems to contain some legitimate bad blood, which, knowing these two, will mean another master class in hand-to-hand violence. A Fight of the Night-level performance, which is entirely plausible, would springboard the winner into the thick of this discussion.

One fun aspect of this stems from the fact that Makhachev is relatively new to the elite levels of his division—arguably only since beating Oliveira. So he has yet to tangle with most of the killers that exist at lightweight, the UFC's deepest, most talent-rich weight class. That means all sorts of fresh matchmaking possibilities with top-tier guys like Poirier or Chandler.

These guys are in the third slot on the UFC 281 pay-per-view—pretty prime territory considering the main and co-main are both title fights. If they show out, that could change this equation in a heartbeat, especially if Volk-Makhachev continues to hit snags.

Khabib Nurmagomedov wants the world to know Islam Makhachev is the best fighter in the world after the Russian star earned a submission win over Charles Oliveira to take the lightweight championship at UFC 280 on Saturday.

"I told you guys Islam Makhachev is the best fighter, not just in lightweight. He's No. 1 pound-for-pound in the world," Nurmagomedov said after the fight (h/t ESPN's Marc Raimondi). "Now plan is to fight pound-for-pound king Alexander Volkanovski in his home of Australia."

After the challenge was made, Volkanovski got in the cage to accept a bout for the lightweight championship and unofficial title of best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Alexander Volkanovski accepts Islam Makhachev's challenge to fight for the UFC lightweight title and P4P No. 1 status #UFC280 pic.twitter.com/iezb8rOyJa

— Shakiel Mahjouri (@Shak_Fu) October 22, 2022

Coming into Saturday's event from Abu Dhabi, Oliveira told reporters Makhachev was only getting a title shot because of his relationship with Nurmagomedov.

"I think Islam deserves all the respect in the world," Oliveira said. "But I think he should’ve fought somebody maybe in the top five like I did, not just surf on someone else’s wave and skip the line like he did."

It's not an unfair statement for Oliveira to make. Makhachev's last fight before Saturday's bout was over Bobby Green in February. Green has been a journeyman fighter for most of his tenure in UFC and has a 29-13-1 career record in 43 fights.

Makhachev was originally supposed to take on Beneil Dariush on the show, but Green got the spot when Dariush had to withdraw because of an ankle injury.

Nurmagomedov, who vacated the lightweight title when he retired from competition after defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, has moved into the coaching ranks. Makhachev is one of the fighters working with The Eagle.

Oliveira won the vacant 155-pound title by defeating Michael Chandler at UFC 262 in May 2021. Do Bronx was forced to vacate the championship for missing weight prior to his scheduled bout with Gaethje at UFC 274.

The win by Makhachev is, by far, the biggest of his career. It also improved his career record to 23-1.

Volkanovski is the most dominant current champion in UFC. The Great has held the featherweight crown for more than 1,000 days since beating Max Holloway in December 2019. He has successfully defended the title three times.

Despite primarily competing in the 145-pound division, Volkanovski does have three career fights as a lightweight. He hasn't competed in the division since 2016.