UFC 325 Breakdown with Barkhatov: Volkanovski’s Title Defense, Fiziev’s Loss, Tsarukyan’s Future

Hey everyone, hi there! You're watching the weekly discussion of the top combat sports news on the MMA-TV.com portal. My name is Yulia Mirei, my co-host is Artyom Novopavlovsky, and joining us is the MMA Series featherweight champion Nikita Barkhatov. Hey guys!

Hello everyone, and how are you today?

Yulia, Nikita, hey! The first thing we'd like to discuss is the recent UFC three twenty five event, specifically the fight between Rafael Fiziev and Mauricio Ruffi. The fight was very intense and nerve-wracking. It felt as though every single strike could easily be the last, even though these fighters weren't actually heavyweights. Rafael came in as the favorite in this bout. And it seemed like everything was going well for him, except for some reason that led to his loss. for some reason, he ended up losing. To me, it appeared as though he got stuck directly in front of his opponent, who is an exceptionally formidable and dangerous striker. I would be very interested to hear what you think about this and how you personally felt about the fight? What do you think was Rafael Fiziev's main mistake?

Rafael actually started off pretty well. The first three minutes of the first round were really good. I think in those first three minutes, he only took one hit. It was just that straight right hand. He was putting on pressure, launching constant attacks, and his opponent didn't know what to do with him at that moment. But then, like you said, Artem, I also noticed that Rafael seemed to get drawn into his opponent's game and started just standing in front of him. and trying to pick his shots. But in that kind of fight, Ruffy was stronger—he had longer reach, and he started landing more cleanly. And I think that decided the outcome of the fight.

How did such an experienced striker like Rafael end up getting stuck like that? How would you explain that, in your own words?

Maybe he had some injuries, or something went wrong during his training. Watching his first three minutes of the fight, he wasn't standing still at all. He kept pressing forward, constantly launching attacks. The only shot Ruffy landed on him in the first three minutes, as far as I could tell, was a straight right. Well, basically, it was that straight right that Ruffy used to finish the fight. I think it's either something to do with his mental preparation, maybe Rafael was a bit broken psychologically, or it's a matter of injuries. He couldn't keep up that pace in the fight and started standing still, trying to pick his shots.

I just pulled up the strike stats, and I have to agree with Nikita—I also felt like Rafael was always pressing, taking the center of the octagon, and it seemed like everything was predetermined, while his opponent was just firing back. But actually, the stats show the opposite: 65% of the strikes were in favor of Mauricio, And Rafael landed only 55 percent. Which is strange, by the way. I thought he was in the lead. But he really was showing a confident fight up until it seemed like he overestimated himself. Because I think it all came down to one precise shot that shook him, and after that, naturally, everything led up to the knockout. But of course, it's a shame. It's a shame for our friend Rafael Fiziev.

I also want to point out that his pendulum technique was pretty good. When Rafael was dodging while already on the mat, it was the first time I noticed something like that, actually saw it in mixed martial arts. I'd also like to talk about what's next for these guys. Nikita, how would you comment on that? Ruffi called out Paddy Pimblett. Is Mauricio even ready for a fight like that? After the loss, Paddy ended up in fifth place.

Honestly, I've never really followed Ruffi. I haven't really seen many of his fights. Of course, I followed Rafael. I remember he started in the UFC, I think, with a loss. He had one loss. Then he went on a win streak, with five or six victories. And then he faced Gaethje. Maybe Gaethje kind of broke him a little, possibly. Because two fights with Gaethje, and two losses. But Gaethje is one of my favorite fighters. I like his fights. As for Ruffi, about the fight with Pimblett. It'll probably be a decent fight. Because what's next for Pimblett is unknown. He lost the fight with Gaethje. They probably won't push him as much anymore, like they did before. So, I think it would be an interesting fight. I think Pimblett won't be striking anymore, he'll go for wrestling.

The first thing I saw today when I woke up was on social media—Paddy, whose eyes were both just completely red. One was smaller, the other bigger, because during the fight he got hit in the eye twice. And by the way, the first time, the referee actually stopped it, but the second time, I was really outraged because he blatantly poked him in the eye, and nothing was done about it. They just let the moment slide. Well, friends, let's move on to the next fight. The second main event. Volkanovski versus Diego Lopes. What are your impressions of it?

Well, I think Volkanovski won thanks to his skill and experience. Everyone saw the fight—the rounds were more or less even, but in almost every round, Volkanovski was just a bit better and landed a few more strikes. Except for the third round. Volkanovski gave up the third round. That's how I scored it, yeah—the first, second, fourth, and fifth rounds went to Volkanovski. You can't really say he took every round in a dominant fashion, but he did win them, mostly thanks to his experience, I think. So that's my take on this fight.

Nikita, did you say you'd give the third round to Volk?

No, not to Volk, I'd give the third round to Lopes.

Well, there was actually some good action there, and Lopez got rocked at first, too. So Alex successfully landed a significant power shot. However, it seemed to me that Volk was actually more active and effective with his striking in that round, so I would probably award him the edge on my scorecard here.

But look, first Lopez got rocked, but he stayed on his feet. And when Volkanovski got rocked, he went down. So, like I said, all the rounds were pretty close overall. But I thought Lopes took the 3rd round, 10-9. And the rest all went to Volk. You know the saying, 'a Volk is fed by its feet.' That really fits Volkanovski. He had to do something in this fight. He has such tremendous experience in five-round fights. He knows how to pace himself, knows what he needs to do against taller opponents. And pretty much everyone in his weight class is taller than him. Volkanovski, I think, is about 168 or 170 centimeters tall. He knows what to do against them, how to move, how to work. But as for Lopes, I feel like he still lacks those kinds of matchups on his record to be able to beat Volkanovski right now. He still needs to go through some more in the UFC.

Nikita, this is your weight class, and if you were standing across from Volkanovski, how would you approach that fight?

We have a team that analyzes all of that. But I’d probably fight him at the same pace. We’d work in the stand-up, we’d wrestle. We’d do everything. I think that’s where you can beat him. His cardio is pretty good, I haven’t seen any fights where he started to gas out or anything. So it wouldn’t be easy against him.

I had the feeling that in this fight, there was something missing—like a spark, or that sense of danger, that someone really wanted to take the other guy’s head off, like maybe in the Topuria vs. Volkanovski fight. It seemed to me that Lopes was too disciplined this time, and that actually held him back. What do you think?

Well, maybe, yeah, I think so too. And as for Volkanovski, maybe he wanted to push the pace somewhere, but his head took over—he realized he needed to win, not get knocked out. He understands that Lopes can hit hard, and that at any moment he could get knocked out. That's why Volkanovski was careful about it and stuck to his game plan with discipline. It was Volkanovski's game plan that helped him. And his discipline won him this fight. As for Lopes, even his corner wasn't advising him to push forward and go all out till the end. He had a chance for a knockout in the final rounds. Get a knockout in the fifth round and you win. In other words, if you’re going to lose by decision anyway, what’s the point of taking it to the judges? You had to take risks at that point.

I also feel like there really wasn’t any spark. People clearly understood exactly who they were up against, since this was already their second intense fight, and it truly felt like there weren’t really any major surprises—except, of course, for that specific moment at the very end of the fight, when that particularly interesting pose suddenly happened. I don’t know, maybe someone from the outside would call it a 69. What do professional athletes call it?

I don’t know, but it was definitely funny, especially when Volkanovski started interacting with the crowd. Yeah, it was funny, for sure. But I don’t think that pose really has a name. Honestly, I’m not that strong when it comes to wrestling terminology. Maybe there actually is a name for that position. Well, Volkanovski was already wrapping up the fight, and still managed to hype up the crowd at the end.

And probably the most interesting question is, what do you think will happen next? There are prospects with Alex. As dedicated Russian fans of mixed martial arts, we are all patiently waiting for the undefeated Movsar Evloev to finally earn his well-deserved title shot against the reigning champion. Right now, we believe his time has come. how ready is he, in your opinion, to face Alex? It’s possible Alex won’t defend his title here and might start thinking about lightweight again. So, what do you think about this, Nikita?

Well, I think Alex would like to fight Movsar. He’s said more than once that he’s ready for Movsar. And honestly, Movsar has made quite a run in the UFC. I don’t know how many wins he has now, 8 or 9. So, I mean, that’s already a pretty big win streak. I personally believe and feel that, you know, this recent strategic deal between the UFC and Paramount, so to speak, effectively eliminates any remaining possibility of the idea of Movsar fighting for the highly anticipated world title. Now the UFC needs entertainment. They’ve cut contracts with fighters who were even on winning streaks, but who were less entertaining. So, they want excitement in the fights. They don't want full three-round fights that are just pure wrestling with minimal action. To put it simply, they require a show. That's why I think they won't give Movsar a title shot. They'll just push someone else as the next challenger for Volkanovski.

Movsar has had some issues with title fights for a while now, because I remember that some time ago it was already announced that he would fight, but in the end he didn't make it because of some injury and missed his chance. But unfortunately, fate turned out this way, and it was already tough for him as it was. He got his chance, but he couldn't take it because of health reasons. Now, honestly, it's probably going to be even harder for him. Although, I think he hasn't fought in quite a while already. And of course, I'd like to see how he bounces back, because honestly, he's still a pretty young fighter and could still have every chance. Including winning the title, in my opinion. I really feel sorry that his fighting career turned out this way, stopping just one step away from the belt.

For Movsar, this fight wasn't for the belt due to his injury withdrawal. The UFC considers that when fighters pull out. Like, for example, take Tsarukyan. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's basically the same story, I agree. Honestly, I don't really know what's actually going on with him and the UFC, what happened there. The way they're holding him back and not giving him a title shot. Maybe they want Arman Tsarukyan to build up more hype. And so the UFC wouldn't have any excuse not to give him the fight. Everyone in the world of combat sports wanted to see that fight happen. And right now, Arman Tsarukyan is doing everything in his power to earn that right immediately. He's competing everywhere—freestyle wrestling, grappling—he's always in the spotlight, always showing up in the media. Well, I think definitely, everyone likes it, and everyone sees how their fighter is getting promoted like this.

Nikita, what can you say about Arman's potential future prospects in the featherweight division? In a recent and detailed interview with Ariel Helwani, he said that he and his team are currently and seriously considering moving down to a lower weight division. And maybe, in fact, it could even be for a title shot right away, which actually answers the question about what's next for Alex—a championship fight. In your opinion, how intense and competitive could their fight be, and who do you think would ultimately emerge as the winner?

You know, I think it would be really tough for Tsarukyan to drop down to 66 kilos. But physically, he's not exactly small either. So I highly doubt he'll actually decide to move down. I think that's more something stated primarily just for media hype. But if they do move down, I think it would be an interesting fight. And here, I wouldn't give Tsarukyan a guaranteed win either. If you look at the first fight between Volk and Makhachev, you can see how tough it was for Makhachev against Volkanovski. I mean, yeah, in the second fight, when Volkanovski got knocked out, that was clear. Volkanovski came in a bit chubby, with a belly, not fully prepared. But overall, I think it's going to be a competitive fight. Tsarukyan won't be able to just wrestle Volkanovski, especially considering that Volkanovski defends against wrestling pretty well. I think it's going to be tough. It's probably fifty-fifty. Although, you know, Volk is also one of my favorite fighters, so I think Volkanovski has an edge in this division. For Tsarukyan, this would be his first fight at sixty six, right? And as for Volkanovski, well, I don't know, but when he joined the UFC, I think he had a win streak of 21 or 22 victories. I mean, in a row. He only lost after that. To Makhachev, actually, to Makhachev, then to Topuria, and then again to Makhachev.

You have a similar situation to Alex Volkanovski. He moved up to lightweight, trying to become a double champion. He was chasing that so-called greatness. You’re in the same situation. You’re moving up in weight and want to become a double champion in the MMA Series. But Volk didn’t manage to do it. Why do you think you’ll be able to pull it off?

Well, I believe in myself, yeah, and I think I can do it. Obviously, I have a very serious opponent, I respect him a lot, and I think this fight won’t be an easy one. At the very least, it’s a mental challenge for me, yeah, because we talk to each other. It’s a tough fight when you know someone, you talk, you’re on good terms, and then you have to fight them—it’s really hard. That’s why I think it’ll be especially tough for me in that regard. I don’t know how it’ll be for Dima. So we’ll both move up and try to prove ourselves.

I have a question for Nikita, the last one, but it’s very important. Nikita, who’s yelling in the background of your photo?

Oh, that’s my personal photo.

Oh, that’s you yelling?

Yeah, yeah, my girlfriend gave it to me as a gift.

That wraps up our video discussion. Thanks, guys, for spending this morning talking about MMA. Thank you. See you next week.

Bye. Thank you.

Bye-bye.