Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2 Prediction: UFC 294 Betting Odds

 Makhachev is -250 on the UFC 294 odds and Volkanovski +190.

Bet on Makhachev vs. Volkanovski

Islam Makhachev UFC 294 Odds

The 31-year-old Makhachev, from Russia, is the UFC lightweight champion and ranked as the No. 3 pound-for-pound male fighter with a 24-1 MMA record – that loss coming to Adrian Martins at UFC 192 in October 2015 by first-round KO. He’s also a former combat sambo world champion and a close friend and training partner of Khabib Nurmagomedov, the one-time UFC lightweight champ and Hall of Famer.

Makhachev was to defend his belt in a rematch against Charles Oliveira, who is ranked as the No. 1 lightweight. Makhachev won the vacant title at UFC 280 in October 2022 by beating Oliveira via second-round submission (arm-triangle choke) after knocking down Oliveira with a punch. That victory earned the Russian the Performance of the Night bonus. Oliveira had to pull out of this rematch recently due to injury.

“In my final training in Brazil before traveling, I clashed heads in training and suffered a deep cut that needed eight or nine stitches, something like that, I don’t know for sure. It’s a cut too deep to be able to fight, to recover in such a short time and be able to put on a great fight,” he said last week. “It’s not just a fight, it’s a title fight, so there were great things involved. We didn’t want to go there unprepared.”

Makhachev’s first title defence was against Alexander Volkanovski in February, and Makhachev won via unanimous decision even though he admitted he thought he lost the fight in Australia as did some in the media. Two judges scored it 48-47 and another 49-46. 

“This guy [is] so strong,” Makhachev said after. “He always try to push you. His style is a little bit different, how he moves fast and how he’s strong. He improved a lot in the ground, his defence. But it was good fight, and for sure it’s big experience for me.”

The 5-foot-10 Makhachev, a southpaw, has a reach of 70 inches, and his fights average 10:15. He lands 2.35 significant strikes per minute with 59 per cent accuracy and absorbs 1.27 with 61 per cent defence. His takedown average is 3.24 per 15 minutes with 62 per cent accuracy, and his takedown defence is 90 per cent. Makhachev had four takedowns in his first encounter with Volkanovski, resulting in more than seven minutes of control time.

Makhachev has 11 wins by submission, nine by decision and four by KO/TKO. For Saturday, his favoured method of victory is by decision at +185, followed by submission at +300 and KO/TKO/DQ at +400. A draw is +6600. 

Alexander Volkanovski UFC 294 Odds

Volkanovski, a 35-year-old Aussie, is 26-2 in his professional MMA career, is the UFC featherweight champion and ranked as the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter. He is also a former Australian Fighting Championship featherweight champion and even dabbled in professional boxing briefly.

“The Great” is taking this on very short notice. After losing to Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title in February, Volkanovski successfully defended his featherweight belt yet again in July with a third-round TKO of Yair Rodriguez, who came in as the interim featherweight champion. Volkanovski is now 11-0 in UFC at 145 pounds.

“The guy is an absolute freak,” UFC president Dana White said of Volkanovski after that Rodriguez bout. “He’s incredibly talented. The guy has proven himself so many times. A lot of people think he won the Islam fight. Whatever he wants to do, we’ll probably roll with it.” 

The Australian had won 22 straight fights before the loss to Makhachev, including his first 12 in UFC. Volkanovski was credited with 164 total strikes in that first match compared to only 95 by Makhachev. Volkanovski is a striking specialist who attacks from all angles.

“I’m gonna be even harder to take down even with the short notice. Just purely because my freshness, how excited I am and my takedown defense, I haven’t missed a beat,” Volkanovski said. “I wanna make sure it doesn’t go five rounds. I want to finish it early; I don’t want to test his gas tank. Don’t get me wrong, I reckon I can do it but let’s not try and test it. Let’s just finish him nice and early.”

The 5-foot-6 Volkanovski has a reach of 71 inches and his fights average 17:14 – he has gone the distance on 11 different occasions and carries a 10-1 record in those bouts. He averages 6.25 significant strikes landed per minute with 56 per cent accuracy and absorbs 3.36 with 58 per cent defence. His takedown average is 1.86 per 15 minutes with 37 per cent accuracy, and his takedown defence is 69 per cent.

For Saturday, Volkanovski’s favoured method of victory is by KO/TKO/DQ at +375, followed by decision at +425 and submission at +2500. That the bout goes the distance is -110 with no at -120. He has 13 wins by KO/TKO, 10 by decision and three by submission.

UFC 294 Odds: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski Prediction

Considering the Aussie nearly won the first bout, he’s much better value at +190 on Saturday.