UFC 284 Fight Card: PPV Schedule, Odds and Predictions for Makhachev vs. Volkanovski
The UFC heads to Perth, Australia with a card that features Alexander Volkanovski attempting to take the lightweight championship from Islam Makhachev in the main event of UFC 284.
The fight pits a new champion of the lightweight division in Makhachev against the proven featherweight champion trying to make become a two-division champion.
Volkanovski has proven to be the best featherweight in the world with four consecutive title defenses and a winning streak that stretches back to 2013. Now, he'll take on the challenge of punching up a weight class.
Just before he steps into the cage against Makhachev, the featherweight division will name its next challenger for The Great upon his return. Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett meet in the co-main event with the interim featherweight championship on the line.
Here's a look at the complete card from Australia as well as the latest odds and predictions for the biggest fights.
Main Card (10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV)
Prelims (8 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+)
Early Prelims (6 p.m. ET on UFC Fight Pass)
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
Alexander Volkanovski deserves a ton of respect for what he's trying to do on Saturday night. The Australian is not a big featherweight to begin with. At only 5'6" he has a dense frame and is usually the shorter fighter every time he enters the cage.
It will be an uphill battle against Makhachev who is 5'10" and told Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie that he weighed 167 pounds just one day before the weigh-in.
Volkanovski is strong for a featherweight, but the lightweight division is filled with strong fighters. Makhachev has made every opponent he's seen look like a rag doll at some point.
He has at least one takedown in seven of his last eight fights, per UFC Stats.
Volkanovski's boxing will keep him in the fight if the lightweight champions decide to entertain a striking match. However, it's more likely that Makhachev leans heavily on clinch strikes early in the bout to force Volkanovski to carry his weight.
After a while, he'll go for the takedown and an exhausted Volkanovski could have a hard time avoiding Makhachev's chokes.
Prediction: Makhachev via third-round submission.
It has felt like Yair Rodriguez has been on the brink of breaking out in the UFC for a long time. With Mexico's proud history of boxing champions, it's a market the UFC would love to break into.
However, outside of Cain Velasquez, there just haven't been many fighters with Mexican roots to break out on the championship stage. Brandon Moreno has changed that in the flyweight division.
With Rodriguez's exciting style and flair for unorthodox strikes, he has the potential to be a fan favorite and a star in a division with a history of producing huge fights.
He has to get past Josh Emmett on Saturday, though, and that's never as easy as it sounds. Emmett is one of the more underrated fighters in the division. He is rarely in the main event, but has strung together five consecutive wins against quality competition.
Three of those five fights have either come with Fight of the Night or Performance of the Night bonuses.
Emmett's straightforward boxing style isn't quite as good for highlight reels, but it is effective.
That could be bad news for Rodriguez in his attempt to add interim champion to his resume. This fight should feature plenty of fists flying, but Emmett's more fundamentally sound approach could be the difference.
Prediction: Emmett via decision
The Australian crowd is going to be hoping for a massive upset in the main event, but they should be banking on a fun moment two fights earlier on the card.
Perth native Jack Della Maddalena will look to keep up the positive momentum in a fight with Randy Brown just before the co-main event. Della Maddalena has highlighted himself as a potential future star from the country.
Della Maddalena has smashed his way through the ranks early in his UFC career. Since signing a UFC contract after a decision win on Dana White's Contender Series he has gone 3-0 with three straight first-round TKO wins.
He will see a bigger step up in competition against Randy Brown. Rude Boy is on a four-fight win streak of his own and has been fighting a higher quality fighter in the organization for a long time compared to Della Maddalena.
That also means that we have a pretty good idea of what his ceiling is.
Brown is a tough competitor who will make life a little more difficult for Della Maddalena. Just not difficult enough to keep him from earning another knockout win.
Prediction: Della Maddalena via second-round TKO
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