Why Diego Lopes believes Alexander Volkanovski made the right call fighting Islam Makhachev at UFC 294

After seeing Alexander Volkanovski lose to Islam Makhachev by knockout, many have questioned Volkanovski’s decision to take the rematch on short notice.

Volkanovski accepted to fill in for an injured Charles Oliveira and take on Makhachev in a rematch on less than two weeks’ notice in the main event of UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi this past Saturday. Yet, despite the criticism by many, fellow UFC featherweight Diego Lopes thinks Volkanovski made the correct call.

“I don’t think it was a mistake since the first time was very close,” Lopes told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “The first fight was very close and a lot of people saw Volkanovski winning and other people saw Makhachev winning. The confidence that Volkanovski had taking this fight was very high. I think I would’ve done the same.

“If I had a close fight against someone a weight class above me and for the title, I would’ve taken the fight, too. Now, after seeing the fight and getting a result, everyone is going to say it was a mistake. Only us fighters know the feeling of seeing an opportunity. If I had a close fight with someone and I thought I beat them and I have the opportunity to prove I’m better, I’m taking the fight. I know circumstances are different, but when I took the fight against Evloev, it was the same thing.”

Lopes does think Volkanovski (26-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) ended up biting a bit more than he could chew in taking the rematch against Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) on short notice. However, he does stand by it not being a mistake, as the reward was too big to pass up. Either way, Lopes has tremendous respect for Volakanovski for daring to be great.

“I think there’s always receipts,” Lopes said. “I could be wrong here, but people always say that age is just a number, and I somewhat agree with that, but you have to keep in mind that Volka has been doing this sport for a long time and when you get to a certain age you start declining a bit.

“All respect to him for taking the fight on 10 days’ notice. He wasn’t prepared for this fight. But yeah, it was surprising to see how Makhachev finished him. I think we all expected Makhachev to wrestle him all the fight.”