Controversy
Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 1 Scorecard: Was UFC 284 Closer Than the Judges Said?
Volkanovski moved up a division, out-landed the lightweight champion and dropped him in the last round. The judges still gave it to Makhachev on every card, and one of them four rounds to one.
Makhachev
VolkanovskiAt a glance
- ResultMakhachev by unanimous decision - 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 - to keep the lightweight title
- The judgesBen Cartlidge and David Lethaby 48-47, Derek Cleary 49-46, all for Makhachev
- The splitRound 3 - Cartlidge and Lethaby gave it to Volkanovski, Cleary to Makhachev
- The statsSignificant strikes 70-57 to Volkanovski; takedowns 4-0 to Makhachev; control 7:37 to 2:55
- The media23 of 29 scorecards tracked by MMADecisions had Makhachev winning
- Our card48-47 Makhachev
What was at stake
Alexander Volkanovski was the featherweight champion and the No. 1 fighter in the UFC's men's pound-for-pound rankings. Islam Makhachev was the lightweight champion and No. 2 on the same list. So UFC 284 was a champion against a champion, with the No. 1 spot at stake as well as the lightweight belt: Volkanovski moved up 10 pounds to try to become a two-division champion.
Both came in on long winning streaks. Volkanovski had won 22 fights in a row; Makhachev had won 11. The event date is listed as February 11, 2023, by the UFC's statistics; it was February 12 where it was held.
Watch the fight
The UFC has put the whole fight on its official YouTube channel. Tap to play it here.
The official scorecards
Each judge's card, round by round, from MMADecisions; Verdict MMA lists the same official rounds. Scores are written Makhachev first.
| Judge | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Cartlidge | 10-9 | 10-9 | 9-10 | 10-9 | 9-10 | 48-47 |
| David Lethaby | 10-9 | 10-9 | 9-10 | 10-9 | 9-10 | 48-47 |
| Derek Cleary | 10-9 | 10-9 | 10-9 | 10-9 | 9-10 | 49-46 |
Every round was scored 10-9; there were no 10-8 rounds and no point deductions. Bold marks round 3, the only round the judges split on.
The cards agree on four of the five rounds. Makhachev took the first two and the fourth on every card, and Volkanovski took the fifth on every card. Round 3 is the only disagreement, and it did not change the winner: even with it, Volkanovski had two rounds at most. That is why a fight many people remember as a coin flip was announced as a unanimous decision.
Round by round
Round 1 - Makhachev (all three judges)
Makhachev got Volkanovski down, took his back and spent the rest of the round attacking with a face crank, according to both CBS Sports and Sherdog. Volkanovski landed one more significant strike, 11 to 10, but Makhachev had 2:04 of control and the round's only takedown.
Round 2 - Makhachev (all three judges)
Volkanovski had his best moment of the first half here: CBS Sports reports that he rocked Makhachev with punches, and Sherdog that Makhachev was stunned. Makhachev answered straight away with a takedown and top position, and Sherdog notes that Volkanovski's left eye began to swell. The count was dead level, 19 significant strikes each, with Makhachev 1 of 2 on takedowns and the control time almost even, 0:57 to 0:53. The official statistics record no knockdown.
Round 3 - Volkanovski 2-1 (Cartlidge and Lethaby)
The round that split the judges. Makhachev got another takedown, but Volkanovski got back up and turned him against the cage, as CBS Sports describes; Makhachev had only 35 seconds of control. Volkanovski was the busier man, throwing 37 significant strikes to 22 and trying two takedowns of his own, but Makhachev was more accurate and edged the count, 16 to 14. Cartlidge and Lethaby gave the round to Volkanovski; Cleary gave it to Makhachev.
Round 4 - Makhachev (all three judges)
Makhachev's clearest round. He took Volkanovski down, took his back and locked a body triangle, and held him there for most of the round. CBS Sports and Sherdog both say he never came close to finishing, and the strike count shows how little either man did, 4-6 in significant strikes. What decided it was 3:25 of control.
Round 5 - Volkanovski (all three judges)
The best round of the fight. Makhachev's knees in the clinch cut Volkanovski, but Volkanovski kept coming, dropped Makhachev with a right hand and followed him to the ground, where he finished the round on top landing punches. Both CBS Sports and Sherdog describe the knockdown, and it is the only one in the official statistics. Volkanovski out-landed him 20 to 8, stopped both of his takedown attempts and had 1:33 of control. It was not enough: he needed the round, and a finish.
What the numbers say
The official statistics, round by round (Makhachev first):
| Round | Sig. strikes | Head | Body | Legs | Takedowns | Control |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | 10 – 11 | 5 – 4 | 3 – 5 | 2 – 2 | 1/1 – 0/0 | 2:04 – 0:00 |
| R2 | 19 – 19 | 12 – 8 | 7 – 7 | 0 – 4 | 1/2 – 0/0 | 0:57 – 0:53 |
| R3 | 16 – 14 | 10 – 7 | 5 – 4 | 1 – 3 | 1/3 – 0/2 | 0:35 – 0:29 |
| R4 | 4 – 6 | 3 – 4 | 1 – 1 | 0 – 1 | 1/1 – 0/0 | 3:25 – 0:00 |
| R5 | 8 – 20 | 6 – 14 | 2 – 4 | 0 – 2 | 0/2 – 0/2 | 0:36 – 1:33 |
| Total | 57 – 70 | 36 – 37 | 18 – 21 | 3 – 12 | 4/9 – 0/4 | 7:37 – 2:55 |
On strikes, Volkanovski won the fight: 70 significant strikes to 57, more in three rounds and level in another, and 164 total strikes to 95. He scored the only knockdown. But on the ground the fight was Makhachev's. He landed four of his nine takedowns, stopped all four of Volkanovski's, and controlled him for 7:37 of the 25 minutes, more than two and a half times Volkanovski's 2:55.
The numbers also show why the striking edge did not win rounds. Almost all of Volkanovski's lead came from round 5, 20-8; across the first four rounds the count was 50-49 to Volkanovski, which is to say it was even. In rounds 1 and 4 Volkanovski landed one and two more significant strikes, and lost both rounds on every card to a takedown and long stretches on his back. The judges rewarded control, and Makhachev had it in four rounds out of five.
The media mostly agreed with the judges on the winner, if not on the margin: 23 of the 29 scorecards on MMADecisions had Makhachev ahead, nearly all 48-47, and six had Volkanovski. CBS Sports' own round-by-round card had Volkanovski winning 48-47, and its report said the fight "should reasonably have gone 3-2 in either direction".
How we scored it
| Round | MMA.SOCIAL | Why |
|---|---|---|
| R1 | 10-9 Makhachev | The takedown, the back and 2:04 of control outweigh an 11-10 count. |
| R2 | 10-9 Makhachev | Level at 19-19. Volkanovski's best moment, but Makhachev answered it with a takedown and top position. |
| R3 | 10-9 Volkanovski | The closest round. Makhachev edged the count 16-14, but Volkanovski got straight back up, pushed the pace and threw far more. |
| R4 | 10-9 Makhachev | The back and the body triangle for most of the round, 3:25 of control. |
| R5 | 10-9 Volkanovski | The knockdown, 20-8 in significant strikes and 1:33 on top. |
| Total | 48-47 Makhachev |
Our card matches Cartlidge's and Lethaby's. Round 3 is the hard call, and Cleary's 49-46 is not indefensible: Makhachev landed the more accurate strikes and the round's only takedown. But Volkanovski undid that takedown quickly and was the one moving forward, and in a round that close we give it to the fighter who was making the fight.
The round that could have changed the result is round 2, not round 3. It was 19-19 on the count, and Volkanovski hurt Makhachev before the takedown. A judge who gave him that round, and round 3, would have had him winning 48-47, which is how Verdict MMA scored it; CBS Sports also had Volkanovski winning 48-47. We do not: Makhachev's takedown and top position came straight after Volkanovski's best moment and took the rest of the round from him. So the right man won. But it was a one-round fight on most cards, not the three-round margin of the 49-46.
What happened next
Both men spoke to Michael Bisping in the cage, as CBS Sports reported. "You like it or you don't like it, I'm the number one best fighter in the world," Makhachev said. Volkanovski said: "People didn't give me a chance but I gave myself a chance." He also said: "Maybe we'll settle pound-for-pound again."
They settled it eight months later, and not the way he hoped. At UFC 294 on October 21, 2023, Volkanovski took the rematch on short notice after Charles Oliveira was injured, and Makhachev knocked him out with a head kick in the first round, at 3:06. Volkanovski then lost the featherweight title to Ilia Topuria by knockout at UFC 298 in February 2024. He won the vacant belt back against Diego Lopes at UFC 314 in April 2025 and beat Lopes again at UFC 325 in January 2026.
Last night, at UFC 333 on October 24, 2026, Volkanovski stopped Movsar Evloev by TKO with punches at 4:54 of the second round. It was Evloev's first defeat, and it was Volkanovski's ninth win in a featherweight title fight, one more than Jose Aldo.
Makhachev gave up the lightweight title to move up to welterweight, and at UFC 322 on November 15, 2025, he beat Jack Della Maddalena 50-45 on all three cards to become a two-division champion. At UFC 330 on August 15, 2026, he defended it against Ian Machado Garry, 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47, for his 17th UFC win in a row, one more than Anderson Silva's old record. He is not on the card at UFC 336 on January 30, 2027: instead Carlos Prates and Michael Morales fight for an interim welterweight title, with the winner expected to face Makhachev later in 2027.
The verdict
Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 1 was not a robbery. Makhachev won three rounds on every card by taking Volkanovski down and holding him, and the strike count in those rounds was close enough that control decided them. But it was much closer than 49-46. Volkanovski, the smaller man, out-landed the lightweight champion, won the last round with the only knockdown of the fight, and on a different reading of rounds 2 and 3 would have left with both belts. Our card, like two of the three judges, has Makhachev winning 48-47.
Full fight stats: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski. The rest of the night: UFC 284. More: the most title fights, the most decisions and the fighters with the most disputed losses.
Sources
- UFCStats round-by-round statistics (scrape_ufc_stats mirror)
- MMADecisions - Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski
- Verdict MMA - The Final Verdict: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski
- CBS Sports - UFC 284 results: Makhachev edges past Volkanovski
- Sherdog - UFC 284 play-by-play, results and round scoring
- Yahoo Sports - UFC 284 full results
- CBS Sports - UFC 284: results and complete guide
- theScore - Volkanovski remains pound-for-pound No. 1 despite the loss
- CBS Sports - UFC 294 complete guide and results
- MMASucka - UFC 294 results: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2
- CBS Sports - UFC 314 results: Volkanovski recaptures the featherweight title
- UFC - UFC 325 scorecards: Volkanovski vs. Lopes 2
- CBS Sports - UFC 333 results: Volkanovski smashes Evloev to retain the title
- Yahoo Sports - UFC 333 results: Volkanovski passes Jose Aldo's record
- CBS Sports - UFC 322: Makhachev vs. Della Maddalena results
- Cageside Press - UFC 322: Makhachev captures a second title
- Cageside Press - UFC 330: Makhachev takes a decision over Machado Garry
- Al Jazeera - UFC 330: Makhachev secures a record-setting win
- Yahoo Sports - UFC 336: Prates vs. Morales set for an interim belt
- Bloody Elbow - Interim welterweight title fight announced for UFC 336
Questions
Who won Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 1?
Islam Makhachev, by unanimous decision at UFC 284 on February 11, 2023. Ben Cartlidge and David Lethaby scored it 48-47 and Derek Cleary 49-46, all for Makhachev, who kept the lightweight title.
What was the Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 1 scorecard?
All three judges gave Makhachev rounds 1, 2 and 4 and Volkanovski round 5. Round 3 split them: Cartlidge and Lethaby gave it to Volkanovski, Cleary to Makhachev, for totals of 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46.
Was Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 1 a robbery?
No. Volkanovski out-landed Makhachev 70 to 57 in significant strikes and scored the only knockdown, but Makhachev landed 4 of 9 takedowns and controlled him for 7:37. 23 of 29 media scorecards tracked by MMADecisions had Makhachev winning. We scored it 48-47 for Makhachev: close, but the right result.
Did Volkanovski knock Makhachev down?
Yes, once, with a right hand in the fifth round. He followed Makhachev to the ground and finished the round on top. It is the only knockdown in the official statistics, and all three judges gave Volkanovski the round.
Did Makhachev and Volkanovski fight again?
Yes. At UFC 294 on October 21, 2023, Volkanovski took the rematch on short notice and Makhachev knocked him out with a head kick in the first round.
