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LAS VEGAS >> With the UFC’s featherweight division now completely in Alexander Volkanovski’s control, what’s next for Max Holloway?
That’s all a guess at this point after Volkanovski put an end to the Holloway rivalry with a one-sided, unanimous decision victory at UFC 276 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
For the first time since Holloway TKO’d Jose Aldo in 2017, there’s no doubt someone else is the greatest 145-pound fighter in the world.
Volkanovski snapped Holloway’s 13-fight featherweight win streak that lasted more than six years in 2019 in a razor-thin unanimous decision, but after a disputed split-decision victory seven months later in July 2020, there remained doubt as to who the best featherweight in the world really is.
That’s no longer the case. Volkanovski staked his claim to being the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world by dominating Holloway, who is 15-0 with nine stoppage wins in 145-pound fights not against Volkanovski since 2013.
Holloway was not made available to the media following the fight because he was transported to a local area hospital.
UFC President Dana White also was not in attendance for UFC events this week, leaving nobody to speak about Holloway’s future in the company.
Holloway did post on social media, writing “To all the fans do not cry for me Argentina. This is part of life. We need to rebuild and we will. I love you!”
Holloway also wrote in another post: “I’m still up 2-0 on knockdowns for trilogy. Prob gonna need a 4th to settle this. Just playing. Congrats to my brother @alexvolkanovski . Go get that 55 strap. You earned the shot. You’re #1 P4P right now.”
The 30-year-old Holloway has fought 26 times in the UFC. He’s suffered four of his seven losses of his career with the company over his last seven fights. Three of them are against Volkanovski, who is ranked No. 2 pound-for-pound. The other was against No. 7 pound-for-pound Dustin Poirier at 155 pounds.
A future title shot, as long as Volkanovski is the champion, is unlikely after the dominance Volkanovski showed on Saturday night.
With wins over No. 2 Brian Ortega, No. 3 Yair Rodriguez and No. 5 Calvin Kattar already in the bag, the questions remains. Is it time for Holloway to make the jump to the lightweight division?
If it is, he’ll likely have to follow Volkanovski, who made his claim for moving up in weight to challenge for the title vacated by Charles Oliveira after he missed weight for his previous title defense.
“I’m a dominant champ. I’ve taken out guys like Max Holloway three times,” Volkanovski said. “Who has really looked like that against someone like Max Holloway? He’s on the pound-for-pound list. You don’t get to see this often. You don’t get to see someone dominate someone who is so high on the pound-for-pound list.
To think that I don’t deserve to move straight up is silly.”
The only problem is he might have to wait after saying he broke his left hand in the second round. He was bandaged up at the post-fight press conference.
“It’s not good,” Volkanovski said. “I know when I break stuff and yeah, broke it in round 2.”
Volkanovski also broke his hand in the first fight against Holloway, making his victories in the series even that more impressive.
So is he the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world?
“It’s not up to me honestly,” Volkanovski said. “I respect martial artists. It would be good to get that but it’s not up to me. It’s up to everyone else. There’s fighters that I still look up to who are still fighting now. Obviously I have got a good resume and I can see why people might have me in those conversations and I’ll leave it at that.”
Source: Star
