UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski admits he’s growing tired of discussing a potential trilogy fight with Max Holloway.
Volkanovski is riding back-to-back decision wins over Holloway. The first, a fairly decisive unanimous decision, occured in late 2019, and earned Volkanovski the featherweight strap. The second, a split decision that occurred in July, was much more controversial, but nonetheless marked a successful title defense for the champion.
Given the competitive nature of the pair’s first two fights, and Holloway’s status as one of the best featherweights ever, many fans are interested in seeing them fight a third time.
Having defeated his rival twice in a row, however, Volkanovski isn’t interested in that possibility. In fact, he’s growing tired of even hearing about it. The champ opened up on the topic in an interview with SCMP MMA.
“It is annoying. People just quickly forget,” Volkanovski said (via The Body Lock MMA). “All they remember is the close fight we had last July. That’s all they remember. It was a close fight. It was very competitive. Max showed up early. I didn’t really show up.
“Luckily enough, I’m so well rounded and I’ve got that grit, I’m going to push myself,” Volkanovski continued. “I ain’t going make excuses but if there was going to be a day that Max Holloway was going to beat me, that was the day. Let me just put that out there. And I was still able to steal the last three rounds so that just shows you how good I am. But people are going to forget that too.
“So again, it is annoying but at the same time, I understand it,” Volkanovski concluded. “It was a close fight. It was a very competitive fight and it was two of the best going at it. There’s a lot of hate but at the same time, there are so many people who appreciate two of the guys at the highest level having this chess match. A lot of people are missing that and they don’t realize that what they got to see was fucking rare. It is rare to see two of the highest level figuring each other out and really adjusting every minute. The fight IQ that was involved in both our fights was just incredible and people are missing that because obviously they see the first two rounds and that’s all they remember.
“I understand it [the desire for a trilogy] but come on, I ain’t going to keep rematching him till he wins.”
Max Holloway is slated to return to the cage next week, when he’ll take on Calvin Kattar in the main event of a card on Fight Island. Alexander Volkanovski, on the other hand, is expected to defend his belt against Brian Ortega in the near future.