Joe Rogan and Belal Muhammad link Alexander Volkanovski's recent dip in form to Islam Makhachev rematch: "Huge mistake"
For the second time in two years, Belal Muhammad made the trip to Texas to appear on The Joe Rogan Experience. As Rogan typically does on his show, the two discussed a wide range of topics in the MMA landscape, including looking back on UFC 294.
When reflecting on Islam Makhachev's knockout win over Alexander Volkanovski in the main event, Rogan said he believed the result was caused by the quick turnaround for 'The Great.' Muhammad agreed, with both concurring that Volkanovski's current losing streak has more to do with his recent workload rather than age.
Rogan said:
"Huge mistake. You don't fight Islam on 10 days notice... Imagine if he doesn't take that fight and he goes in fresh against Ilia Topuria and you have a much better fight. Who knows who would've won? You gotta think he was compromised from that [rematch with Islam Makhachev]... he was head-kicked."
Watch Joe Rogan and Belal Muhammad's comments below (1:03:38):
Volkanovski saw his three-year reign as the UFC featherweight champion end at UFC 298 in a second-round knockout loss to Ilia Topuria. The 35-year-old took the fight four months after losing to Makhachev by first-round knockout at UFC 294.
Since his third win over Max Holloway at UFC 276, Volkanovski is just 1-3 in his last four fights with consecutive knockout losses.
Joe Rogan connects Alexander Volkanovski's recent losses to Stipe Miocic
Before Joe Rogan and Belal Muhammad went on a tangent about Islam Makhachev's impressiveness, the former connected Alexander Volkanovski's recent shortcomings to the end of former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic's career.
The host connected Volkanovski, who took the rematch with Islam Makhachev on short notice, to Stipe Miocic, who fought Daniel Cormier less than six months after beating Francis Ngannou. In both cases, Rogan argued that Volkanovski and Miocic would not have been knocked out as quickly as they were if they had taken more recovery time.
While Miocic was not knocked out by Ngannou in their first fight, Rogan believes that he sustained a significant damage.