Islam Makhachev Beats Alexander Volkanovski by Round 1 TKO, Retains Title at UFC 294

A rematch between Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski yielded the same winner at UFC 294 as Makhachev defended his lightweight title against Alexander Volkanovski via first-round TKO.

While the first fight was a hard-fought five-round battle, this one took much less time with Makhachev taking Volkanovksi out with a left high kick to end the night early.

Marc Raimondi of ESPN noted just how rare it is for Volkanovski to be finished.

The UFC passed along a picture that captured the moment Makhachev sealed the win.

Despite the loss, Volkanovski was in good spirits after the bout and was focused on getting back into the cage soon to defend his featherweight title.

This wasn't the vindication that Makhachev was initially after at UFC 294, but it's impressive nonetheless. Makhachev was slated to rematch Charles Oliveira, but he was forced to withdraw from the fight due to a cut suffered in training.

That gave way to another rematch, but the same chance for Makhachev to further cement himself as the best lightweight in the world.

The obvious retort to that statement is that both of Makhachev's title defenses have actually come against a featherweight. Volkanovski has fought admirably in the heavier weight class, but he's made his name as a 145er.

That's something that Makhachev is hoping to address by getting one of the two biggest names in the 155-pound division. He's hoping to see a rematch between Justin Gaethje and Charles Oliveira that will determine his next foe.

"I'm pretty sure that after this fight, there's already two definite opponents that are ready for a fight with me," Makhachev told reporters ahead of the fight. "I think the two of them should fight each other so we have an actual No. 1 contender for the belt."

Oliveira won the first fight with Gaethje by first-round submission. If he's able to repeat that result we could find ourselves back in the position of anticipating a bout between Oliveira and Makhachev.