UFC 294 Abu Dhabi Preview

The following article contains information that is not representative of the opinions of CommRadio. It solely expresses the opinions of Carson Schuler.

Islam Makhachev will attempt to defend his undisputed lightweight championship in a rematch against Alexander Volkanovski.

The last time they fought each other was on Feb. 11, 2023, in Perth, Australia in what some consider a controversial decision that was ruled unanimously (48-47, 49-46, 48-47) in Makhachev’s favor.

That was Makhacev’s last fight in the UFC, and since then, Volkanovski knocked out the number three contender at the time, Yair Rodriguez, in a June featherweight title fight. Volkanovski will move up to lightweight again for this title fight with Makhachev.

Makhachev is 24-1 in his career, and he is looking to defend his title for the third time in his career on Saturday. Charles Oliveira was the originally scheduled fight for Makhachev, however, he was forced to withdraw due to a large cut near his eye.

Volkanovski, with only 11 days' notice, will look to prepare himself as much as he can for the title rematch that would make him the double-champ.

Volkanovski is listed at 5 feet 6 inches and has a 71.5-inch reach, while Makhachev is listed at 5 feet 10 inches with a 70.5-inch reach. Makhachev does have longer legs though, with a 40.5-inch leg reach as opposed to Volkanovski’s 36-inch leg reach.

At the time of this article being written, Makhachev is a -340 favorite to win this fight, a very heavy favorite. However, if we have learned anything about this sport, it is clear that anything is possible and whoever shows up with the mentality of a winner, has a puncher's chance to make history.

Outside of the lightweight division, there are many other intriguing fights on this card. Middleweight has two main card fights, and light heavyweight and bantamweight each have one fight that is sure to make for one of the best fight nights of the year.

Kamara Usman, the number one contender for the middleweight division will fight Khamzat Chimaev who is undefeated and the number four contender in the division.

Chimaev is another heavy favorite (-360) on the money line, despite being the fourth-ranked contender in the division. He has not fought in over a year with his last UFC contest being a 1st round submission against Kevin Holland in September 2022.

Look for Chimaev to come out of the gates aggressively as he did in his last fight against Holland. Usman will also be looking for revenge for his last fight against Leon Edwards.

It was a grueling fight that came to a majority decision in Edwards’s favor to retain his welterweight belt in the title rematch.

Chimaev is a headhunter, with 87% of his total significant strikes being to the head and neck area. He is a great wrestler and grappler as well, but the fact that he targets headshots so much will force Usman to be ready for a fury of lefts and rights aimed at his head.

Usman will look to hand Chimaev his first career loss and earn himself a title fight against Sean Strickland.

The Russian takeover in the UFC is in full swing, the other main card fights set for Saturday include a light heavyweight bout between number two contender Magomed Ankalaev and the number seven contender Johnny Walker.

Unsurprisingly, Dagestani Ankalaev is a heavy favorite and his moneyline odds have been priced in a range from -350 to -405 across different sportsbooks, and his 18-1-1 record backs that up.

All of the other main card fights include at least one Russian. These bouts include a middleweight fight between 14-1 Ikram Aliskerov representing Dagestan (-600) and 15-6 Warlley Alves representing Brazil (+430).

The first fight among the main card bouts will be a bantamweight bout between 17-3 Said Nurmagomedov (-225) representing Dagestan and 18-5 Muin Gafurov (+185) from Tajikistan.

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Carson Schuler is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism, to contact him please email cts5357@psu.edu