Julianna Pena choking out Amanda Nunes for the win in their first encounter at UFC 269 might be the biggest upset in MMA history in the eyes of many fans and analysts but Daniel Cormier thinks there’s the potential for an even bigger upset in February at UFC 284. To be more specific, according to Cormier, Alexander Volkanovski beating Islam Makhachev would be the biggest UFC upset of all time.
“In my opinion, Volkanovski wins this fight, it’s the biggest,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “It’s bigger than anything we’ve seen because, I’m telling you, when you get into the details of this matchup, it seems a very hard match for Volkanovski to win, because his skillset is almost catered for a guy like Makhachev because of Makhachev’s ability to stand and also his size.”
Cormier, who trained with Makhachev at American Kickboxing Academy, believes that Makhachev’s ground game would be too much for Volkanovski’s as well, especially when the height difference is factored into the equation.
“Volk is a very big guy. Remember, we’ve spoken ad nauseam about how big he was when he played rugby, but that doesn’t matter,” Cormier added. “He’s still shorter. Because he’s shorter it makes for Makhachev to use the leverage against Volkanovski. I believe that this would be the biggest upset in mixed martial arts history.”
Volkanovski (25-1 MMA, 12-0 UFC), who has defended his featherweight title four times now, will move up a weight class (an effort he claims has made him “stronger than ever“)to challenge Makhachev (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) for the Lightweight Title in the main event of UFC 284 in Perth, Australia on February 12th.
Do you agree with Daniel Cormier in his belief that Alexander Volkanovski beating Islam Makhachev would be the biggest UFC upset of all time? Let us know what you think in the comments.
