Islam Makhachev’s former opponent Alexander Volkanovski has made his official prediction for the UFC 302 main event clash vs Dustin Poirier.
If there’s anyone in the world who knows just how difficult a task it is to best Islam Makhachev in the UFC octagon, it’s the former featherweight champion and pound-for-pound king, Alexander Volkanovski.
UFC 302 will be Makhachev’s first title defense against a legit lightweight
UFC 302 will be the first time that Islam Makhachev has defended his lightweight world championship against a legitimate 155lb contender; having defeated featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski twice in 2023.
Because of this, there’s an argument to be made that the upcoming main event clash against lightweight veteran and fan-favorite KO artist Dustin Poirier will be the Russian juggernaut’s toughest test to date.
Yet for many, predicting the winner comes down to ‘head vs heart’ – so which way is Alexander Volkanovski leaning when it comes to the main event of this weekend’s PPV headliner?
Alexander Volkanovski makes his official pick for UFC 302
Breaking down the main card of UFC 302 via his official YouTube channel, Alexander Volkanovski acknowledged that the bookies are right to have his former opponent as such a large favorite “because he’s that good of a fighter.”
Yet ‘The Great’ wasted no time in making his prediction known; opting to side with his former foe to get the job done and successfully defend his lightweight title on June 1.
“Islam’s going to be too good, I think he’s too safe of a fighter to make mistakes where he’s going to get caught against someone like Dustin Poirier… I don’t see anyone beating Islam for a while unless they catch him.”
“I think once he grabs a hold of Dustin, Dustin’s going to be in trouble – yeah, the guillotines might be there, but think of the amount of times people have tried to put Islam in a guillotine, I guarantee he’s done hours and hours of defense – I don’t see that being pulled off.”
The former featherweight king explained “I like Dustin and I’ve got a good relationship with him, but I’m just trying to be realistic here,” before predicting that Makhachev will earn victory by way of submission:
“I think he plays it safe on the feet… Can he get the finish, Islam? Yes, I think you’re best option here is, Islam is that good where it’s going to be a finish, [and] I think it’s going to be a submission finish.”
That being said, Volkanovski admitted that he views Makhachev’s chances of losing any fight at 155lbs as the same as his own mindset as the then-king of the 145lb division, prior to his knockout defeat to Ilia Topuria earlier this year:
“I see this is how I have always been in my division, I’ve always said that anyone has a punches chance and the only way I ever saw myself losing was someone catching me.”
The fan-favorite Australian also identified one key difference between his own fight with Makhachev and the main event of UFC 302, acknowledging that Dustin Poirier has one major advantage in terms of the fighting stances.
“Southpaw vs southpaw; and here are some little problems for Islam maybe… With my fight with Islam, there was times where I would come in aggressively, and his timing for the takedown was very good – he’d always dip his head to the side away from my power side and shoot in.”
“Now doing that with a southpaw fighter, now you’re dipping to the power side of Poirier; powerside uppercuts, powerside kicks, powerside knees – these are going to be little problems.”
If Poirier can either rock Makhachev on the feet, or land enough low kicks to force the champion to shoot a rash takedown attempt, that’ll leave an opening for Poirier to counter from that rare southpaw stance.
“I wouldn’t say panic shoot but instinct reaction to shoot, if he chooses to shoot a takedown is he running into something in that powerside… That being said, Islam’s a very calculated fighter and he’s going to have different options [ready].”
Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier is the main event of UFC 302, set to go down from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 1.