After briefly flirting with the lightweight division, Alexander Volkanovsky he returned to featherweight and showed Saturday night why he’s still the best at featherweight.
Volkanovski reaffirmed himself as champion with a technical knockout over yair rodriguez at 4:19 of the third round at UFC 290.
Rodriguez was the interim champion after Volkanovski was temporarily moved up to lightweight, but the Australian left little doubt as to who was the better fighter by taking his record to 26-2 in what was scheduled to be a five-round bout.
“There was a little bit of fear… knowing how dangerous it was,” Volkanovski said. “That is the pure truth. I put in my head This week, I flipped the switch out of respect for him. Now I am a champion. I am the king of the division. No one has ever stopped me.”
Former President Donald Trump, who is running for the Republican nomination in 2024, was among those in attendance. He entered the venue shortly before the main card began, walking alongside UFC President Dana White and causing a roar from the 19,204 spectators who packed T-Mobile Arena. Trump shook hands with Las Vegas Raiders star defensive end Maxx Crosby, a huge UFC fan who sat behind him. Jamal Murray of the NBA champion Denver Nuggets also had a seat on the floor.
White said the buy-in was $9.75 million.
“I think you couldn’t have capped off a better International Fight Week,” White said. “The energy was off the charts. It was a perfect night.”
Volkanovski, a minus 390 favorite according to FanDuel Sportsbook, brought Rodriguez (16-4) to the canvas about 2 minutes into the first round and kept him there to dictate the pace. That became an issue as the second round played out the same way, with the 34-year-old Volkanovski also taking several shots to Rodriguez’s face.
Rodriguez, who is from Mexico, then took the fight to Volkanovski in the third round, avoiding the ground and pound with a series of kicks to put him on the defensive. But with a minute remaining, Volkanovski dropped the 30-year-old Rodriguez to the canvas and pummeled him with rights and lefts before referee Herb Dean intervened.
Rodriguez was sent to the hospital.
This was Volkanovski’s first fight since losing a unanimous decision to the lightweight champion. islam makhachev on February 11. That ended Volkanovski’s 22-fight winning streak, and after the brief move up to lightweight, he dropped back down to featherweight for this fight.
Before moving up, Volkanovski had won five title fights to make a strong case as the greatest featherweight of all time. He’s also been in the conversation for the best current pound-for-pound fighter, with Volkanovski sitting second in the official UFC rankings behind Jon Jones.
“I’m really going for all the records,” Volkanovski said. “I’m pretty close to knocking down some of those, but I have a lot of goals ahead of me. I could be in this position right now, but I guarantee I’ll be in the gym next week busting my ass again.”
The Volkanovski-Rodriguez party highlighted the International Fight Week card that included a second championship fight.
Alexandre Pantoja of Brazil captured the flyweight belt by beating champion Brandon Moreno of Mexico, winning by split decision, and both fighters were taken to a hospital after the fight. White said Moreno had a broken hand.
Judges Derek Cleary and Junichiro Kamijo handed Pantoja a 48-47 victory in the five-round bout, but Ben Cartlidge saw the fight quite differently with the score 49-46 in favor of Moreno.
Pantoja (26-5) collapsed on the canvas after the decision was announced. He has beaten Moreno (21-7-2) in all three meetings.
“I worked very hard,” Pantoja said. “I left everything I had.”
A minus-196 favorite, Moreno dominated the second round, but had tough defense of Pantoja’s running game in the other four. Even so, the battle was fairly even for the most part, and the blood on the faces of both fighters underscored just how much they were after each other.
Moreno won the belt nearly a year ago and successfully defended it in January.
Robbie Lawler, who was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on Thursday, retires on a high note after knocking out Niko Price just 38 seconds into the first round of their welterweight bout.
Lawler, 41, ends his career with a 30-16 record and a no contest. She broke down in tears watching a video tribute to him after the fight, and the crowd roared chanting his first name.
“It was a tough training camp,” Lawler said. “Nothing felt right. Today was the first day that I felt good.”
