Breaking down Alexander Volkov’s best performance of his career vs. Sergei Pavlovich: Alexander Volkov was a +200 underdog against Sergei Pavlovich and looked about -1000. Although Kuniev and Pavlovich don’t fight alike, Volkov has the tools to defeat both. You wouldn’t know it just from watching the fight, but Pavlovich actually has a 4-inch reach advantage over Volkov. The difference between the two is that Volkov knows how to use his reach. Pavlovich often sets up his combinations with a jab and usually finds the target because of his longer arms, but Volkov constantly disrupted his rhythm with jabs, teeps, and, most importantly, leg and stomp kicks. Pavlovich also has rudimentary defense, which Volkov massively exposed by using same-side combinations throughout the fight. This was his most effective weapon and allowed him to land his best strikes. I imagine Volkov will look to use these against Kuniev, too. Volkov also knew exactly when to throw against Pavlovich. If you watch the highlights, he almost always throws his strikes when he’s in front of the black line running around the Octagon. He has his range dialed in so well that, as soon as he’s behind that line, he focuses on defense and circles back into range. You can also see him get into trouble a couple of times when he tries to strike and Pavlovich catches him, particularly in the third round. Volkov also used a high guard effectively, blocking many of Sergei’s strikes with his forearms. I think Kuniev is more athletic than Pavlovich but isn’t as polished as a striker. He also faces a bigger reach and height disadvantage. I expect Volkov to win by decision and look more comfortable than he did against Waldo and Jailton. I also expect Kuniev to gas out, as Volkov is good at targeting the body with his kicks. Kuniev’s history as a drug cheat is another factor worth considering. This is also a good fight to analyze if you’re a Pereira fan. Pavlovich is far more one-dimensional than Ciryl Gane, and he does NOT like getting hit. Pereira could knock him out if he gets the game plan right.

Am I tweaking or is Kevin Holland low-key about to win this? When I first saw this matchup I was like alright medic wins, but then I was thinking about it and.... Holland stylistically SHOULD win this fight, medic has power and is very dangerous early but Holland's chin is stupid, he's been hit with huge shots and he just never seems to go out, obviously medic might be the most dangerous guy he's been in there with but still Holland's chin is tested even against big middleweights, I also can't skip over the fact that Holland has a 10 INCH reach advantage over medic which can help alot with staying on the outside, landing straight shots and chopping the legs early which Holland likes to do, medic is also quite chinny, he gets hurt or dropped in every fight and we've seen him KOed stiff before, Holland carries some power and is pretty accurate with his straight shots, combine that with the 10 inch reach advantage and I could see Holland chinning medic out cold off the break of a weird pocket exchange, Holland also has a serious edge in the grappling especially if this matchup leaves the first round, which it probably will given Hollands chin, Kevin can mix in takedowns as the fight goes on and we've seen medic struggle here against guys like oralbai and Jalin Turner. Uros medic will be explosive and dangerous early but Hollands chin can and probably will hold, and after round 1 I see Medic slowing down, Holland taking over using that reach and speed, mixing in takedowns, and eventually, medic enters the pocket does some weird exit and Holland cracks him at the end of a straight right hand, sitting him down, where he follows medic to the ground and latches up the rear naked choke, subbing Uros Medic, now obviously take this with a grain of salt cuz it's Kevin Holland, he losses fights he should win all the time.

Career Review - Merab Dvalishvili Been a minute since I’ve done one of these so for anyone who’s new, here’s a breakdown of how this works: I'll be breaking down fighters' resumes by assigning each win a tier based on its quality. Here are the rules: * S Tier Win - 15 points * A+ Tier Win - 10 points * A Tier Win - 7 points * B+ Tier Win - 5 points * B Tier Win - 3 points * C+ Tier Win - 2 points * C Tier Win - 1 point * D Tier Win - 0 points Fighters also get bonus points for successful title defenses, how long they’re a champion for, and they lose points for drug tests and weight misses. Next up is Merab and I’ll try to do Volkanovski too before fight day. As always let me know if you disagree with any picks, happy to adjust my rankings around if enough people want them switched. Current Rankings: Jon Jones - 126 Demetrious Johnson - 115 Jose Aldo - 108 Islam Makhachev - 100 Charles Oliviera - 82 Merab Dvalishvili - 81 Khabib Nurmagomedov - 75

UFC 333 Breakdown Aaron Pico vs. Losene Keita Simply I think Pico is the far more well rounded fighter, he’ll mix in the takedowns along with the boxing to keep him guessing. As long as he can avoid the big punches from Keita. Aaron Pico Unanimous Decision - Alexander Volkov vs. Rizvan Kuniev Volkov obviously has a huge length advantage in this one. I think as long as he stays on the outside with punches and kicks keeping Kuniev at bay, this one will look easy. Kuniev’s strengths don’t favor this matchup in my opinion Alexander Volkov Unanimous Decision - Lone’er Kavanagh vs. Ramazon Temirov I’m gonna keep this one simple, Temirov is round 1 or bust, Kavanagh is more well-rounded and has the cardio to make this fight look ugly. Lone’er Kavanagh Unanimous Decision - Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili 1-1 in their two matches each dominating the other. I think this fight looks a lot closer to the second fight than the first though. Unless Merab looks a lot better. Yan has everything on his side in this match-up and with everything I’ve seen in the buildup, Yan isn’t messing around. Petr Yan Round 3 KO/TKO - Alexander Volkanovski vs. Movsar Evloev Classic striker vs wrestler match-up, or is it. Volk is an amazing offensive wrestler as well as defensive. This fight should stay on the feet for the most part and I don’t know how good that is for Evloev. We’ve seen that Movsar doesn’t have the best control even if he does get you down. Playing right into Volk’s strengths. Alexander Volkanovski Unanimous Decision