I've never doubted volk in a single fight thus far, but I will openly admit that I do have doubts in this fight. This is very obviously an uphill battle. That said, I still honestly think Volk can win and I feel like people are sleeping on him enormously here. Some people are acting like this is a squash match, and I find that crazy. This is near 50-50 for me, but slight advantage to islam for the size.
People are acting like Volk isn't the most well rounded fighter islam has ever faced, like he isn't one of the best wrestlers islam has faced not named arman, like he isn't the most conditioned fighter islam has faced, like he isn't one of the smartest fighters etc etc etc........But he is.
This is a big test for both guys. I'm looking forward to it.
Best striker by far. MMA fans are basic though, if you can't describe something to them in a buzzword they aren't listening. They'd rather spout out the Rogan favorite "technical", instead of ever breaking down what makes X fighter "technical".
As I mentioned in a post earlier, there is definitely an element of "faith" in my pick, so I'm definitely with you there. Alex is the underdog and rightfully so, I'm not even arguing that. Besides all the X and O's that I love talking about, Volk has the momentum, the confidence, and skill to back up what he's saying. I doubted him so much until this point, until I opened my eyes and appreciated for what he is, the most skilled MMA fighter walking this earth rn. I put my faith in that man.
Now aside from the queefy stuff, people don't understand that yes Islam has a huge advantage on the ground, but they disrespect Volks striking and striking in MMA in general (which has come a long way in the entirety of MMA in the last ~7-9 years).
I call back to my point that MMA fans love buzzwords and simplistic takes like "once he's down, he's done" or *striker vs wrestler" (like it's rock, paper, scissors or some shit). Well that's great and all, but many strikers didn't have the footwork that Volk has (there where a few Lyoto comes to mind) and that coupled with a decent understanding of wrestling and immense physical strength has changed the game when it comes to TDD. I point to Leon Edwards, Volk, Holloway, Ngannou, and Adesanya as evidence of this, none of them are grapplers at their base.
The game is changing, working your way into a skilled fighters clinching range (such as Volk) is not as easy as the "stand and bang" days a lot of you guys stayed in. Similar to those people who can't leave highschool behind (but that's niether here nor there). Back then fighters stood more square and where more basic with their stand up attacks and acumen, MMA as a whole was more grappling focused, with whole periods being dubbed buzz word era's such as the "lay n pray era" and the "wall and stall era". It's not only the rules that changed, great strikers are more mobile and or powerful, and they're a lot harder to TD because of it.
As much as I do fear Islam once he's on Volks legs, many of you dismiss what he has to go through to get there. Volk is a very nuanced fighter and I understand it takes a while to understand that, I didn't completely get it until he steamrolled my boy Max in the third fight. But completely dismissing him here is nuts. He's so mobile, he has the best vision in MMA (he's probably the most spatially aware fighter on the roster), great reactions, great instincts, excellent combinations, set ups, feints, shot selection. I mean he's damn near perfect on the feet.
Islam can get clipped, we've seen it before, and as I just pointed out, Oliveira is not even in the same dimension as Volk when it comes to striking defense. Islam will not be threatening with with his striking like he did against Oliveira. He'll have to threaten with his grappling from the get go. I'm really curious to see how that goes for him. I can't fucking wait for this fight!
Tl;Dr: I agree with you, most these guys don't know shit, the sport is evolving, Team Volk LFG!
