A unique victory for Volkov in the UFC! The real Drago is tough and cold-blooded.
September 10, 2023, 07:25 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Alexandra won by reception for the first time since 2016.
On the night of September 10, the UFC 293 mixed martial arts tournament was held in Sydney, Australia. Heavyweights Tai Tuivasa and Alexander Volkov competed in the co-main event.
For the Russian, the fight with Bam-Bam was an opportunity to achieve a streak of three victories in a row and move up the rankings: Tuivasa was in sixth place, Volkov – seventh. Drago ended his two previous fights ahead of schedule. Yes, the opponents were clearly of a lower level, but, nevertheless, it is worth noting that the Russian fighter with both Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Alexander Romanov did not allow the fights to reach even the second round. In case of victory over Tuivasa, Volkov had another chance to join the title race and the opportunity to fight with an opponent of higher status.
Tuivasa is a favorite of the Australian public. She last competed in Sydney in her UFC debut. Tai approached the next fight with two losses, both by knockout, to Cyril Gan and Sergei Pavlovich. So the Australian did not lack motivation. There is also the desire to overcome poor results and please the fans. However, Volkov was considered the clear favorite for the fight.
UFC 293 main events:
Live
UFC 293: Volkov destroyed Tuivasa! The next step is the title fight. LIVE
However, it must be remembered that this is a heavyweight category, where absolutely any blow can be decisive. From this point of view, Tuivasa, who has impressive knockout power, could well have a case against Volkov.
From the first seconds, the Australian began to actively feel the distance, tried to separate Volkov and worked, including on his legs and body. The Russian calmly countered Tuivasa’s attacks and dealt heavy blows to his opponent in almost every round. Alexander acted very confident and never made any serious threats from Tai. Moreover, at the end of the first round, Volkov could have taken the matter to the end, but the bell saved the Australian fighter, who simply stopped responding.
After a completely lost period, Tuivasa tried to recover and began to even more actively seek a rapprochement with Volkov. This did not bring dividends; the Russians literally “fed” Ty. Here it is worth paying tribute to Bam-Bam, who withstood the blow with dignity and did not allow himself to shoot several times. At the end of the round, Volkov took a dominant position on the ground and performed a rare choke on Ezekiel. Tuivasa did not live to see the end of the second five minutes.
Volkov’s complete dominance. Terrible statistics for blows to the head: 105 to 5 in favor of Drago. With all this, Alexander managed to win with one move, and he did it for the first time in the UFC. Third consecutive victory for the Russian and he is threateningly close to the top 5.
