UFC 290 Preview
The UFC is heading back to the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday July 8 for one of the best fight cards of 2023. UFC 290 will feature two title fights, a title eliminator, and a preliminary card with legends and rising stars.
The main event will be for the featherweight title between pound for pound champion Alexander Volkanovski and interim champion Yair Rodriguez. Volkanovski is trying to rebound from a unanimous decision loss at UFC 284 in which he challenged Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title. Many fans and critics believe Volkanovski won the fight and should be a double champion. Despite the loss he willl still have the opportunity to prove that he is the featherweight king.
Does Volkanovski think he should be double-champ? “Obviously, it was a close fight,” says Volkanovski. “I finished very strong. We thought we did enough. A lot of people thought we did enough. It is what it is, and we’ve got to move on, but it definitely was frustrating.”
Has the champion moved on from his first loss since 2013? “It’s been hard,” says Volkanovski. “It was a big title fight, and I wanted that moment in Australia. It was a David-vs.-Goliath type of story. It was shaping up to be a perfect ending. I just didn’t get my hand raised.”
Prior to the his last fight the champion had won 22 straight fights which included three wins over Max Holloway who is considered one of the greatest featherweights of all-time. What does he think about his next opponent?
“Yair is very dangerous, and it’s the biggest fight of his life,” says Volkanovski, who, at 34, has shown no signs of slowing down. “But I’m planning on having this belt for a very long time.”
While there have been talks of a Makhachev rematch, Volkanovski is focused on UFC 290.
“There are a lot of exciting fights in my future,” says Volkanovski. “I want that lightweight title, and there are so many contenders in that stacked division. But all my plans are useless if I don’t get the win this weekend.
“I’m 100% focused on Yair. He’s dangerous, but I’m going to show why I’m the number-one guy. I’m coming for records, starting with the pound-for-pound number one.”
The 34-year-old concluded, “I’m fighting for my legacy,” says Volkanovski. “I’m fighting for people to remember my name. I’m going to keep moving forward until I’m in the conversation as the best of all time.”
Aside from his wins over Holloway, Volkanovski has key victories over Brian Ortega, Chan Sung Jung, Jose Aldo, Chad Mendes and Darren Elkins. A win over Rodriguez will likely determine if we see a rematch with Makhachev. If Volkanovski loses on Saturday we could see an immediate rematch with Rodriguez as he has held the featherweight title since 2019.
Rodriguez won the interim title in his last fight at UFC 284 with a second round submission in a dominant win over Josh Emmett. The 30-year-old has only lost twice since 2017, but has only fought seven times during that period. Should he become champion, his critics will definitely be questioning his activity.
The Mexican fighter is confident he can defeat Volkanovski. "I think he has holes in his game," Rodriguez said. "I've been watching his fights, and I've been finding a couple of things he always does. I'm going to capitalize on those things he does.”
Rodriguez believed he should have been granted a title shot after his victory over former title challenger Brian Ortega, but he explained why he took an interim title fight against Emmett. "Honestly, I felt it would have been the best thing to go straight to the champion," said Rodriguez, who gave the best performance of his illustrious career in submitting Emmett in the fourth round. "With all due respect to my opponent, Josh, I always knew that I could beat him. That's why I didn't want to take that fight and wanted to go straight to fighting the current champion.
"But the UFC offered it to me and this is what I had to do to get the fight I really wanted, so I accepted the fight with Josh Emmett. But I always knew I could beat him and I just did what I had trained to do.”
It is believed that Rodriguez will pose a different kind of challenge to Volkanovski because of his Taekwondo background and his unique striking style. But Volkanovski stated that he is not afraid to stand and strike with Rodriguez. “It’s all about getting good guys in that are gonna give me as many different looks as they can, unpredictable looks. I’ve got a 11-time Taekwondo world champion, Carl Van Roon… throwing tornado kicks and you name it at me… just giving me as many looks to keep me on my toes,” said Volkanovski.
“The fighter Yair is now compared to when he fought someone like Dan Hooker or even Frankie Edgar… completely different fighter. Way better at certain ranges. I think he was better at one range early in his days. Now he’s just as dangerous in every range. So that’s something that excites me. I can’t wait to go out there and systematically break him down, and show people that even the most unpredictable, awkward, and hardest guys to sort of train for, even I can shut them down.”
The champion concluded, “Everyone knows that I love to take people out of their own game as well. I really like challenging people and showing people how wide my skill set is, how well rounded I really am. The Taekwondo challenge excites me. I can’t wait to throw some spinning heel kicks, and Taekwondo Volk’s gonna come for Yair, you know, really beat him at his own game.”
The co-main event will be for the flyweight title as two-time champion Brandon Moreno will defend his title against #2 Alexandre Pantoja. Pantoja has two victories over Moreno before he became champion.
Moreno claimed the title for the second time in his last fight at UFC 283 with a third round TKO over Deiveson Figueiredo in their fourth hard fought battle. Moreno believes the rivalry with Figueiredo has made a better fighter. “I always answer the same. I’m very grateful with Deiveson for what we did in the UFC and MMA, for our careers and the history of the sport, but of course, I feel happy at the same time to fight with another guy. I felt this kinda fresh air when I fought Kai Kara-France in Dallas and this one is the same. I feel very good,” said Moreno.
While Moreno has lost to Pantoja twice, once on The Ultimate Fighter and again three years later, he does not believe there is a personal rivalry.
“Sorry if I’m not this guy who talks sh*t on social media or tries to make some drama, but at the end that works for me,” Moreno said. “The people love what I’m doing because it’s real, it’s natural. It’s nothing personal against Pantoja.
“For sure, there’s a competitive part of myself knowing he beat me twice in the past. It gives me a different flavor. But at the same time, I’m thinking about the opportunity, if you beat Alexandre Pantoja at the T-Mobile Arena, International Fight Week – man, your legacy. I’m just very focused on that last goal, to win my second, first title defense.”
Aside from two wins over Figueiredo, Moreno has key victories over Kai Kara-France (twice), Brandon Royal and Jussier Formiga. A win over Pantoja will truly mark his dominance in the flyweight division.
Pantoja has won three straight fights and most recently defeated former title challenger Alex Perez by first round submission at UFC 277. He is 4-2 in his last six fights and has key victories over Brandon Royal, Manel Cape, Matt Schnell and Willson Reis. Most importantly he has the victory over Moreno in 2018.
The Brazilian fighter is expecting a different fight this time around with Moreno. “That’s a different opponent for me,” Pantoja said. “One thing is, I’m excited to see how much me and Moreno evolved. Everyone talking about much he evolved about his last fight with me. That’s what I want to see, you know? Because I’m training at American Top Team for five years. I never leave out of the gym. I’m training a lot, and I’ve evolved a lot. I want to see how much I evolved with the one guy I fight before.
“That’s a good thing for me, and maybe that’s more energy for Moreno because he lost to me twice. Maybe he’s keeping this in his head. But for me, this is good because I know if I lose to someone twice, I’m going to make a difference. This makes me very alert with that and so prepared for that fight.”
He concluded, “I think that word ‘deserve,'” Pantoja said. “I deserve to fight for the belt. That’s nice fighting with Moreno, one guy that I respect a lot. One of the guys who learns a lot when he loses.
“… I’m expecting the best Moreno. I’m here for that, to fight with the best. I really want to fight with the prime Moreno, with his best skills, his mindset different.”
The rest of the UFC 290 card:
#2 Robert Whittaker (-400) vs. #5 Dricus Du Plessis (+300)
#11 Jalin Turner (-255) vs. #12 Dan Hooker (+215)
Bo Nickel vs. Val Woodburn
Robbie Lawler (+220) vs. Niko Price (-260)
#14 Jack Della Maddalena (-900) vs. Josiah Harrell (+600)
Yazmin Jauregui (-400) vs. Denise Gomes (+320)
#14 Jimmy Crute (-120) Vs. Alonzo Menifield (+100)
Vitor Petrino (-280) vs. Marcin Prachnio (+235)
Cameron Saaiman (-500) vs. Terrence Mitchell (+370)
Shannon Ross (+125) vs. Jesus Santos Aguilar (-145)
Kamuela Kirk (+130) vs. Esteban Ribovics (-150)
