Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski stats: Takedowns, sig, strikes landed, and more

Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski headlined UFC 284 in Perth, Australia. The two champions fought for the lightweight title in the main event and put on a splendid show, with numbers from official UFC stats reflecting the same.

Makhachev displayed his superiority on the ground by taking down Volkanovski four times in the fight. 'Volk,' however, showed that isn't a pushover by defending five further takedown attempts, keeping Makhachev's takedown percentage at 44%.

Volkanovski himself failed to take down Makhachev even once from a total of four attempts.

'The Great' outstruck Makhachev on the feet by recording a total of 164 strikes from 255 attempts compared to his opponent's 95 strikes from 135 attempts.

Alexander Volkanovski also held the edge with the volume of significant strikes landed with 70 significant strikes from 143 attempts at a percentage of 48%. Islam Makhachev trumped his Australian counterpart here by landing 60% of his significant strike attempts, a solid 57 from 95 attempts.

The bulk of the significant strikes from both fighters was to the head, with the legs being targeted the least.

Islam Makhachev also exerted the most control over the fight with a total of seven minutes and 37 seconds on top of his opponent. In comparison, Volkanovski only managed a paltry two minutes and 55 seconds.

The main event thriller deservingly won the Fight of the Night bonus payout and is an early frontrunner for Fight of the Year.

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Top UFC official speaks on Islam Makhachev's IV controversy

In the aftermath of Islam Makhachev's win against Alexander Volkanovski, Volkanovski's City Kickboxing teammate Dan Hooker levied accusations of cheating against the lightweight champion. He stated that Makhachev had used intravenous infusions ahead of the fight.

Check out Dan Hooker's tweet below:

Jeff Novitzky, the Senior Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance for the UFC, sat down with Brendan Fitzgerald in an interview and addressed the IV controversy surrounding Makhachev.

Novitzky mentioned that the Australian commission has cleared Makhachev but maintained that their rules are clear on the prohibition of intravenous infusions for rehydration.

Novitzky said:

"I think the Australian commission put out a statement last night saying there's no credible evidence of him violating any of their rules. I think I'll leave it at that. They have a specific rule that IVs are banned completely for rehydration purposes. So it wouldn't matter the volume, it wouldn't matter if there was a medical professional involved - Perth bans those IVs."

Check out Jeff Novitzky's interview with Brendan Fitzgerald on YouTube: