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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White told the mixed martial arts (MMA) media that he didn’t expect reigning featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski to love the idea of an immediate Max Holloway trilogy.
Not surprisingly, the Aussie stuck to the script.
“By the end of the year, we’re going to have a clear No. 1 and you’re going to just keep giving Max rematches? It just doesn’t really make sense right now,” Volkanovski told Submission Radio. “I want No. 1 contenders. I want some fresh blood in there.”
So does the rest of the Top 5.
Volkanovski scored a convincing unanimous decision win over the Hawaiian when they first went to war at UFC 245 last December; however, “Blessed” turned in a much better performance in their UFC 251 rematch and may have gotten screwed by the judges.
“We know that last fight was close but the judges gave me the decision and that’s that,” Volkanovski said. “In the first fight, even though it was competitive, I pretty clearly won that fight. To just give him another rematch straight away and put the division on hold, it just doesn’t really make sense.”
What does make sense is putting Holloway against this surging contender.