Alex Volkanovski has defeated Max Holloway twice in the last seven months. First to capture the UFC featherweight title at UFC 245, and then defend it earlier this month at UFC 251.
Although the last match between them ended with a controversial split decision, Volkanovski doesn’t think the trilogy fight should be made right away.
‘It Doesn’t Make Sense’
Volkanovski looked back at both fights against ‘Blessed’ while speaking to ESPN (transcript by MMA Fighting), and concluded that another rematch doesn’t make sense right now.
“At this point, right now, it doesn’t make sense. To win back to back, I did say [that I wanted to beat him decisively], obviously leading up to the fight, trying to hype the fight up, but we all know Max is durable,” Volkanovski said. “ So we’re well aware that taking him out is difficult to do. But at the same time, the majority of the rounds out of the two fights clearly show that I won seven or eight of them.
“Again, very competitive rounds so you’ve got to give credit to Max but at the same time, winning two back to back, it would be silly to do a rematch.”
Never Say Never
The champion wants to fight other legitimate challengers, instead of taking a third fight against Holloway, despite the fact that he is still officially ranked as the number one contender. This however doesn’t mean that Volkanovski wouldn’t take another rematch somewhere down the road.
“I said as soon as I got the belt, I want number one contenders. I want the guys that are next in line,” he said. “So if Max takes a few guys out and there is no one else left and it’s him, he’s that number one guy. I’ll take that fight. Again, that’s what I want to do.
“I’m an easy champion to understand. I want number one contenders, plain and simple. No beating around the bush. Give me the guys that are next in line, the guys that deserve it, and let’s go.”
Who Should Be Alex Volkanovski’s Next Challenger?
Looking at some of the future featherweight matchups, Volkanovski went over a couple of potential challengers. The 31 year old believes upcoming fights will produce the next number one contender, and he will be ready for his next title defence by the end of the year.
“Look, there’s a couple of guys that their names are getting thrown around a fair bit. You’ve got (‘The Korean) Zombie’ and Zabit Magomedsharipov,” he said. “I think they’re pretty big fights but again, they’re both probably just one fight away from getting that title shot. I’ve heard Zabit’s planned to fight Yair Rodriguez and Zombie is planning on fighting Brian Ortega.
“They are two massive fights,” Volkanovski continued. “Whoever wins them and wins in wild fashion, I’m sure everyone will be screaming their name. Everyone is gonna be saying, ‘That’s the guy.’ Everyone is going to be hyping that fight up and that’s gonna be the fight that everyone wants to see.
“I just think those are the biggest fights and make the most sense, but we’ll just have to play it out. I just fought, I don’t need an opponent right now. I’ve still got time to let this division play out. So we’ll just wait and see and hopefully, I’ll have someone by the end of the year.”
Who would you like to see Alex Volkanovski fight next, Max Holloway or another top contender?
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