Former UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier feels that lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski should not do a rematch immediately and give opportunities to other fighters also.
The UFC hall of Famer said that Volkanovski owes a match to Yair Rodriguez and he should give him a chance for the featherweight championship match. He also feels that Beneil Dariush might beat Charles Oliveira and should be given a chance for a lightweight championship match against Makhachev.
“Islam’s got work to do in his own weight class and so does Alexander Volkanovski,” Cormier was quoted as saying by ESPN. “Volkanovski owes it to Yair Rodriguez to go and give him an opportunity to try to become the undisputed champion of the world.
“And I don’t know if it’s fair to Beneil Dariush if he beats Charles Oliveira to not get his chance to fight for the lightweight championship of the world. This is the danger in superfights: You get a close superfight, (and) people are clamoring to see it again. When, in reality, we have two divisions that need the champions back in order to really give us a little clarity.” He said.
They were pretty similar on fight night: Daniel Cormier
Volkanovski received a lot of praise from the fans for putting up an outstanding show against Makhachev who was seemingly looking bigger than him. However, Cormier denied the size difference between his teammate Makhachev and Volkanovski and said that there wasn’t much difference between them.
“In theory, he [Makhachev] is 10 pounds heavier, starting, essentially; but only for — no lie, Ryan — he’s 10 pounds heavier only for the outside of fight camp or only on weigh-in day. Because it’s not like Islam Makhachev weighed more than Alexander Volkanovski on fight night. I wish we had the numbers on the scale because they only weigh 155 for that short period of time that they step on that scale. Islam can’t get back to his max number in 24 hours, neither can Volkanovski, so you’ve gotta imagine they were pretty similar on fight night.”
