he ain't going no higher. 1 Stipe grappler*ped a jacked 280lb Ngannou for 25 minutes. 2 Ngannou - yeah Volkov could beat him however he does have the explosive strength to force through a basic sub 3 Overeem - forget about it, with Reem's clinch, grappling credentials and power Volkov is 4th but even Blaydes at 6th I think could break him with his wrestling
Even an elite stand up fighter is fucked if he can’t defend the take down. Or get back up quickly. Sooner or later they will run into an elite wrestler/grappler. And quite often that doesn’t go too well. Look at Stipe vs Ngannou. He was in that fight for about 2 minutes. And he actually did really well with his stand up. A man with a lesser chin than Stipe would probably have been KTFO. But, for 23 minutes Ngannou was dominated completely. He had only a small chance to win after the first 2 minutes. That was by getting a clean KO shot on Stipe before getting taken down. And he actually almost did it in the 3rd round. Volkov needs work.
volkov has a good ground game, but wrestling has been a problem for him in the past. he's patient on the ground and doesn't take too much damage though. werdum was able to get him down rather easy in the first two rounds. that doesn't bode well if he faces an elite wrestler. werdum doesn't have the best wrestling.
Are you talking about guy from Blackhouse MMA, Kenny (I forgot his surname)? If yes, I remember Volkov said that Kenny was helping him in Moscow before Volkov's debut in UFC.
