Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski just proved that he is on another level against Brian “T-City” Ortega. The fight had everything and many might say it is a fight of the year candidate. Volkanovski may have won in a one-sided unanimous decision but the fight had more than one would think after hearing the scores.
Volkanovski clearly had the advantage in the striking department, his feints are the biggest factor that made him hard to read. It is no surprise that he has great feints since trains under City Kickboxing where they dedicate their training with feints, even Adesanya has one of the best feints in the game.
The fight started slow, but as the fight went on it gave out fireworks. Both were ready to fight that night. Volkanovski just had better striking but Ortega did land great shots of his own but Ortega’s best chance of winning was using his superior grappling.
The third round was probably the most exciting round, as Ortega managed to knock down Volkanovski by timing the leg kick. He then quickly locked a guillotine choke that would have tapped anyone, just not Volkanovski.
The choke was in there deep, Volkanvoski’s head was even turning purple because of the choke, not only that but Ortega had locked the position in a way that Volkanovski couldn’t move. It is still shocking that Volkanvoski did not go to sleep.
After surviving the guillotine, Ortega attempted a D’arce choke but was unsuccessful and put Volkanovksi on top. Both were tired but then Ortega somehow locked in a triangle choke and it was in there but Volkanovski is just built differently. Volkanovski somehow escapes two secured submissions from Ortega and got in a superior position to land ground and pounds.
Ortega had a busted face from the punches that Volkanovski landed but he was still willing to fight. The fight submission would have demoralized some fighters but not him, he still went on to put on a show on the championship rounds. It came to a point where the doctor and Herb Dean were checking if Ortega’s eye was shut.
But at the championship rounds, fatigue was already there for Ortega. Volkanovski capitalized on it and destroyed Ortega via ground and pound again. In the fifth round, Ortega still managed to land clean strikes.
When the final horn ended, both showed tremendous respect and class. The fight was one of the most exciting fights and the main event definitely delivered. It will go down as one of the greatest featherweights of all time.
