Volkanovski’s Head Coach: 'We Knew Ilia Had a Puncher’s Chance -- And He Got that Punch." Volkanovski Himself Makes No Excuses.

[JustBreed]

I mean we’ll probably only know after he retires but in Rd 1 IT hit Volk and Volk did the similar “come on nod” he’s done in both Islam and the Yair fights but his response was quite different.

In those three fights he went forward and reengaged whereas against IT he circled away. It’s probably a combination of both ITs power but also Volk realising his chin wasn’t there.

It then seemed to disrupt Volks gameplan as he couldn’t counter the pressure because the risk of getting into the pocket was too much so it made it easier for IT to cut the octagon off, remain in the centre and then trap him against the cage.

Good observation. Volk always was able to take a shot well enough to fire straight back if he got clipped. Even when he got headkicked by Max he jumped straight back up and put it on him.

I think without that threat, IT was able to do whatever he wanted.

 

[Portland8242]

Wait are people actually arguing that since Volk won the 1st round he had nothing to worry about with the style he was employing?

Reminds me of people who clung onto Gaethje "winning" the 1st round against Khabib. You rewatch the fight and realize pretty quickly that moral victory meant sweet fuck all cause as soon as Khabib got it where he wanted it it was game over. Literally the same thing with Topuria here.

Watch that finishing sequence and I guarantee you 1000% Topuria and his team drilled those positions and sequences thousands of times.