Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski battled through adversity in his virtuoso performance at UFC 276.
The defending champion sustained a broken thumb in the second round of his trilogy bout with Max Holloway, but still pushed on to victory.
Earlier today he uploaded an image of the x-ray confirming the break to social media and gave fans a rough timeline for his recovery.
In his post-fight interview, the Australian once again expressed his desire to move up a division and challenge for the (currently vacant) UFC lightweight title. Charles Oliveira, the man most fans still consider the rightful 155-pound champ, has called to face Conor McGregor in Brazil for the same belt. It’s currently unclear which direction the promotion will go.
The AllStar MMA roundup
- UFC Vegas 58: The AllStar’s Best Bets curated by fight analyst Garret Kerman
- UFC Long Island: Jingliang Li wants to submit Muslim Salikhov – “This time we can find out on the ground”
- UFC Vegas 58: Chase Sherman has a “very punchable face” says UFC Vegas 58 opponent Jared Vanderaa
The best of the rest
- Rafael dos Anjos criticizes ‘desperate’ fighters who can’t hang with Charles Oliveira, promises I’ll ‘punish him’ on the ground – MMAFighting.com
- Jimmy Flick explains UFC comeback, puts flyweights on notice: ‘I didn’t retire the right way’ – MMAFighting.com
- Santiago Ponzinibbio accepts Bryan Barberena’s callout after UFC 276: ‘Let’s make that fight’ – MMAJunkie.com
- Charles Oliveira wants McGregor in Brazil, says UFC must pay ‘a lot of money’ for Makhachev bout – BloodyElbow.com
- Sean O’Malley posse hunting down Pedro Munhoz (and his family) to score payback for UFC 276 Eye-Gate – MMAMania.com
The Call
Our resident fight analyst has been on fire with his picks of late, going 9-0 in the last three weeks. Here’s what he has to say regarding an exciting match-up between Caio Borralho and Arman Petrosyan at UFC Vegas 58:
“In short, Petrosyan will have some early success on the feet until Borralho lands the takedown, gets his back and sinks in the rear-naked choke.“
Garrett Kerman for The AllStar’s Best Bets
Here’s a look at the odds for that pairing (at the time of writing) on Crypto sports book Cloudbet:
Arman Petrosyan (7-1) vs Caio Borralho (11-1)
The soapbox
The morning view
The AllStar’s Propping You Up has you covered for UFC Vegas 58:
RDA wants back in the title picture:
MMA On Point rehashes 10 ridiculous demands from MMA fighters:
Done deals
This week
- Nassourdine Imavov to fight Joaquin Buckley at UFC Paris on September 3 (per La Sueur)
- David Onama back on the UFC Vegas 58 this weekend taking on late replacement FAC BW champion Garrett Armfield at featherweight (per @shayhandicappin on Twitter)
- Ariane Lipski to fight Pricilla Cachoeira at UFC Vegas 59 on August 6 (per MMA Fighting)
On this day in MMA…
On July 8th, 2017, Robert Whittaker won the UFC middleweight title when he defeated Yoel Romero in their first meeting at UFC 213.
The 25-minute brawl resulted in a unanimous decision in favor of the Australian, and earned both men fight of the night honors. It’s currently ranked as the 10th greatest middleweight fight of all time on Tapology.com.
