Makhachev knocks out Volkanovski in 1st round at UFC 294

Islam Makhachev won against Alex Volkanovski in the 1^st round with a KO after a brutal head kick and kept his lightweight trophy at the main event bout at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi.

Featherweight champ Volkanovski accepted the bout with less than 2 weeks’ notice after Charles Oliveira suffered an injury at his training camp and was unable to fight. The Australian and Islam had fought 8 months ago in a 5^th round match in Australia that the judges decided, but now he failed to last 5 minutes.

AND STILL 🏆

Islam Makhachev secures a HUGE KO win at #UFC294 pic.twitter.com/XvLn8AQqcl

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 21, 2023

The two fighters exchanged kicks in the 1^st seconds of the bout, and Alex showed great defense as he avoided 1^st takedown attempt by his Russian opponent. However, Makhachev landed strong kicks and did a lot of damage to the Australian in the clinch.

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After that, Islam finished the fight with a head kick and then threw some punches while his opponent was on the ground before the referee stopped the fight.

“I am not celebrating this victory because of the bad thing happening around the world,” Islam shared after his triumph.

🇵🇸🇷🇺 Russian UFC CHAMPION Islam Makhachev says “Palestine we stand with you!” after winning by KO in the first round of his title fight.

W @MAKHACHEVMMA pic.twitter.com/4QD5J7V6vh

— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) October 21, 2023