Alexander Volkanovski vs. Islam Makhachev Lightweight Title Fight Set for UFC 284

The battle to determine the UFC's best pound-for-pound fighter will go down Feb. 11 when lightweight champion Islam Makhachev defends his belt against featherweight title holder Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia.

Volkanovski is No. 1 in the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings, while Makhachev is No. 3. Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who will defend his belt Saturday against Alex Pereira, sits between the two.

The UFC 284 card also notably includes a middleweight fight between Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa.

The 31-year-old Makhachev is 23-1 and coming off a second-round submission win over Charles Oliveira via an arm-triangle choke to take the vacant UFC lightweight championship at UFC 280 on Oct. 22. He has won his last 11 matches. Four of his last five victories have come via submission.

The 33-year-old Volkanovski is moving up one weight class to take on Makhachev.

Volkanovski has done all he can in the featherweight division after winning the belt against Max Holloway at UFC 245 in December 2019 and defending the title four times. He is 25-1 with 22 straight wins.

Volkanovski last fought in July, when he beat Holloway via unanimous decision at UFC 276.