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Islam Makhachev is set to face Alexander Volkanovski in a rematch in the main event of UFC 294, which will take place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on October 21st.
Volkanovski is a short-notice replacement for Charles Oliveira, who was forced to withdraw due to a nasty cut he sustained in the midst of his preparation for Makhachev.
In anticipation of the newly announced main event, Makhachev's coach and head coach of The American Kickboxing Academy, or AKA for short, Javier Mendez spoke to Submission Radio and revealed that he believes Volkanovski is going to come out swinging this time around:
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“He’s going to take chances. He’s going to take more chances than last time. He’s not going to be worried about the takedowns, because he’s obviously survived the ground last time and he also did his best work on the ground, not in the standup. So, he’s not going to be afraid of anything.
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He further went on to add:
“That’s the one thing I feel he’s going to do, is he’s going to come and he’s going to come throwing. He’s not going to be too cautious. He’s just going to come because feels he can handle whatever it is when he has to throw."
Check out the clip here (7:41 for Mendez's comments on Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2):
While Volkanovski can and should draw confidence from his performance in their first fight, Islam Makhachev is no pushover. 'The Great' certainly has a formidable challenge awaiting him should he opt to go all out early in the fight.
Alexander Volkanovski plans on finishing Islam Makhachev at UFC 294
Speaking to Submission Radio, Alexander Volkanovski revealed that this time around, he plans on bringing the heat to Makhachev early and plans to secure a finish rather than letting the fight go into deep waters:
"Obviously, I want to go out there and hurt him. We’ll try to make sure it doesn’t go five rounds. I want to finish it early. I don’t want to test his gas tank. Don’t get me wrong, I think I can do it, but let’s not try and test it. Let’s just finish it nice and early.”
Check out the clip here (7:29 for Volkanovski's comments on Islam Makhachev):
