LAS VEGAS — It’s safe to say Alexander Volkanovsky buried his rivalry with Max Holloway for good this time around.
Volkanovsky (25-1) defended his featherweight championship for the fourth time on Saturday night, defeating Holloway (23-7) by unanimous decision in their highly anticipated trilogy fight. All three judges scored the 145-pound title fight, which was one of the headliners at UFC 276 at T-Mobile Arena, a clear score 50-45 for the defending champion.
Saturday’s five-round contest was the most decisive result of the trilogy. The two first met at UFC 245 in December 2019 and again at UFC 251 in July 2020. Volkanovski won both by decision, but the fights were extremely close – especially the rematch. In the immediate aftermath of the rematch, some in the sport still considered Holloway to be the true featherweight champion, but that opinion was long, long gone after UFC 276.
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“Look, Max Holloway is an absolute beast,” Volkanovsky said. “That intensity that he brought that we both had the last few days, I needed it. I really needed her. I had to get him out of here. I knew I was the best. I had to remind myself of that.”
The fight was played entirely on the feet, with neither featherweight even attempting a takedown until the final round. Holloway, of Waianae, Hawaii, moved forward throughout the bout but struggled to get any consistent offense on the defensively sound Volkanovski. Meanwhile, Volkanovsky punished Holloway throughout. He cut a deep gash on Holloway’s left eyebrow in the second round and damaged his nose with shots in the fourth.
According to UFC statistics, Volkanovsky out-landed Holloway with a total of 204 strikes to 161 — and the difference I felt more pronounced than that for those watching the fight. Volkanovski’s defense was simply superb and he regularly landed hard counter-right hands when Holloway came rushing in with punches. It was Holloway who looked for the takedown, to no avail, in the final round — his face a bloody mess.
Volkanovsky, from Australia, has emerged as arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world since taking Holloway’s belt in their first fight. He has now defended the title against Holloway twice, as well as Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung. He is currently considering moving up to lightweight to fight for a second belt, a proposal that UFC President Dana White has already expressed his support for.
“I want to be in that Octagon as much as possible,” Volkanovski said. “I want to be busy. I don’t think this division can concern me on its own. I want to move up.”
Aside from a possible move to lightweight, Volkanovski’s next featherweight title defense could be tied to a key matchup between Ortega and Yair Rodriguez on July 16.
Volkanovski has won 22 straight fights, including 12 in the UFC. He is the fourth fighter in UFC history to win his first 12 fights in the promotion, joining Anderson Silva, Kamaru Usman and Khabib Nurmagomedov. He is also the third fighter in UFC history to win three fights against one opponent, joining Frankie Edgar (over BJ Penn) and Tito Ortiz (over Ken Shamrock).
Holloway sees two-game winning streak snapped. His only featherweight losses since 2014 have come against Volkanovski.
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