Kamaru Usman thinks Alexander Volkov’s damage outweighed Jailton Almeida’s control at UFC 321.
Although Volkov (39-11 MMA, 13-6 UFC) was taken down seven times and controlled for more than 10 minutes, he was awarded the split decision win over Almeida (22-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) on Saturday’s main card at Etihad Arena. Usman explained that Almeida just laid on top of Volkov, and it was the Russian who constantly worked from bottom.
“I had Volkov winning the fight,” Usman said on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Henry Cejudo. “If we go back and look at the stats for Volkov in that first round, Volkov definitely won. Yes, he got taken down, but he kept wrestling. He wrestled up the position, he was able to get back to his feet, he landed the bigger, more damaging strikes in that first round. He was constantly trying to advance the fight, trying to advance position, trying to finish the fight.
“If we go back to total strikes, you will see that even when he was taken down and he was on his back, you see that. Volkov landed 123 strikes to Almeida’s 27. So right there tells you who was trying to fight, who wanted to fight, who wanted to finish the fight. Even when he was on his back in that second round, Volkov was threatening. He had him in a triangle at one point. Volkov worked in every position he was in.”
Usman is a strong grappler himself but proved his finishing abilities on the feet during his UFC welterweight title reign. He wants to see Almeida improve his overall game.
“I was very disappointed with Almeida,” Usman continued. “Very disappointed. I thought Jailton Almeida was much more talented than that. He’s big, he’s strong. You’ve got to work on that striking. You can’t be afraid to strike. You’ve got to work on it, and when you work on that striking, it makes those takedowns a lot easier.
“So, I was pretty disappointed from what I saw from him. Him just wanting to wrestle, no serious ground and pound until maybe the third round? I think he threw maybe 10 good shots on the ground, but even then, he had eaten 20 from Volkov.”
