UFC 284: Islam Makhachev defeats Alexander Volkanovski to hold onto lightweight belt

Division champion Makhachev retained his title against featherweight counterpart Volkanovski by virtue of a unanimous decision after five tooth-and-nail rounds at the RAC Arena.

In the process, the Russian extended his winning run to 12 bouts, although Australia's Volkanovski, who went into the fight as the underdog, gave as good as he got for long periods.

"It doesn't matter how I won today, now I'm not just champion, I'm the best fighter in the world," said the dagestani native after the fight, as per mmafighting.com.

"I am very happy. Now people are going to call me not just champ, but 'best fighter in the world.' This is my dream, and it doesn't matter how I won, I'm very happy.

"It was a hard fight with Volkanovski because of many things. I come from another country, more than 13,000 kilometers from my country, I come with my team, and the time is changed, and we come to the arena early morning, many things. But I don’t prepare myself for easy fights.

"We fight not for the belt, but for who is going to be the best fighter in the world. That's why it was a hard fight."

Elsewhere, Mexico's Yair Rodriguez forced American Josh Emmett into a second-round submission, while Australia's Jack Della Maddalena got the better of Randy Brown of Jamaica in similar style inside the opening three minutes.

New Zealand's Justin Tafa knocked out America's Parker Porter with a first-round punch and Australian Jimmy Crute and American opponent Alonzo Menifield could not be separated in a majority draw.