The UFC has finalized the trilogy fight which should settle the question on who is the best featherweight in the world. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto was the first to report this evening that Alexander Volkanovski (23-1) will defend his featherweight title against Max Holloway (23-6).
The matchup will headline UFC 272 which will take place on March 5th. The news was confirmed by Dana White who broke the story to Okamoto. For Max Holloway, he will be looking to re-establish himself at the top of the featherweight mountain.
When Max Holloway rose to the top and became UFC champion, it was hard to envision him losing the crown. However, Alexander Volkanovski shocked Holloway by defeating him at UFC 245. The two immediately ran the fight back at UFC 251 on Fight Island.
The second fight was much closer with many believing Holloway got the win. However, Volkanovski won a split decision. Since the split decision loss, Holloway has had two incredibly impressive wins against Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez which has earned him another crack at the champion.
UFC’s Australian King
I will be the first to admit that I haven’t always given Alexander Volkanovski the respect he deserved. I thought his win at UFC 245 was a fluke and I figured Holloway would take the belt back from him in their rematch. The way the second fight started, that narrative was playing out.
However, Volkanovski showed championship heart and resolve and stormed back in the championship rounds to win a decision. Then, Volkanovski took on Brian Ortega back in September. Again, I was overlooking the champion and thought he was in danger of dropping the title.
However, he put on a tremendous performance at UFC 266 and once again had to dig down deep. Twice in that fight, he could’ve tapped due to some deep submissions. However, he showed great heart and went on to dominate the challenger.
This is Volkanovski’s chance to once and for all put to rest the narrative that Holloway is better than him. Despite winning the first two fights, there are still doubters out there. If he wins at UFC 272, nobody can say anything else.