Joe Rogan Says Islam Makhachev ‘Just Lost, 100%’

Add Joe Rogan to the list of people who thought Alexander Volkanovski did enough to earn a decision win over Islam Makhachev at UFC 284.

On Sunday afternoon in Perth, Australia, featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski moved up in weight to challenge Islam Makhachev for the UFC lightweight title. Few gave Volkanovski much of a chance, but he surprised a lot of people by not just hanging with Makhachev but making the fight extremely competitive.

In the end, Makhachev walked away with the unanimous decision win (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) — watch the highlights here. But Volk put on such a performance that many thought he should have won … including Joe Rogan.

Rogan wasn’t in Australia to call the fight, but he was hosting a Joe Rogan Experience Fight Companion podcast. As the clock counted down in the fifth round and Volkanovski took Makhachev down in the final minute of the fight, Rogan and his friends declared victory for Alexander “The Great.”

“All he has to do is not get submitted and stay on top and he’s the motherf—ing double champ,” Rogan declared. “He’s the GOAT. He’s the GOAT now. He’s the current GOAT. Look at this. Beating him up. Volkanovski is the f—ing double champ, 100%. What a fight. What a f—ing fight! What a f—ing fight, man. He beat him. He f—ing beat him. He beat Islam in Australia.”

“Look at Makhachev, he realizes now that he just lost, one hundred percent,” Rogan added as the fighters awaited the decision. When Bruce Buffer revealed that Makhachev had won, Joe took off his headphones and dropped them on the table in stunned surprise.

“We were convinced,” he said after a few moments before adding “We might have been biased.”

“In my eyes, I thought it was 3-2. Oh my God, this sucks. Listen to the crowd. One of those scorecards was crazy. Bro, he lost that fight, I believe. It’s hard, we’re watching it, we’re not scoring it legitimately, but it seems like the audience agrees with us, but they’re in Australia. But we’re talking s— and drinking. But it seemed to me like he won three rounds. We were pretty convinced.”

“It’s hard, I don’t want to be disrespectful,” he continued. “I’m one of the biggest Islam jock-riders ever. I was saying before that he was the guy everyone’s avoiding … this was a high level of difficulty and I feel like he should have lost. We were 100% convinced ‘And new.’”

After re-watching the fight, it’s a sentiment Alexander Volkanovski agrees with. Is a rematch something you want to see, Maniacs? Or is it time for Volkanovski to return to 145 and deal with Yair Rodriguez, who just took an interim 145 pound belt in the co-main event?