It was the fight billed as for the pound-for-pound world No.1 crown – and Aussie Alex Volkanovski still thinks he won.
Perhaps the powers behind the UFC rankings agree with him.
Volkanovski has held his No.1 position ahead of lightweight champion Islam Makhachev despite losing via decision to the Russian at UFC 284.
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The judges unanimously awarded Makhachev the win for outwrestling the home favourite but many were scathing of one judge’s 49-46 scorecard. The other two, at 48-47, were more understandable but Volkanovski believes he won rounds two, three and five.
“But it was definitely a close fight and I’m a bit upset I didn’t get my hand raised,” he told Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour on Tuesday.
“They took my massive moment away from me, the bastards.”
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Meanwhile MMA great Chael Sonnen declared Aussie fans should’ve thrown rubbish into the octagon after the result and backed the rankings decision, saying it fairly reflected the fight.
“There’s no entity within our sport that has less courage and has demonstrated a smaller amount of integrity than our rankings committee – until now,” Sonnen said.
“Islam and Volk fought, Islam got his hand raised. The rankings committee came out with the rankings and they kept Volkanovski number one.
“The final adults in the room have corrected what we saw.”