Max Holloway was fired up backstage.
Prior to walking out for the UFC 276 ceremonial weigh ins, opponents Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway were in line backstage next to each other. The champion started jawing at Holloway, who was about to weigh in, and the Hawaiian got pretty fired up as he responded and started exchanging words.
Volkanovski released a clip of what he called a verbal altercation between them, and here’s how the exchange went:
UNSEEN Verbal altercation with max backstage…fire up!! #UFC276 pic.twitter.com/8k3iBV2SBZ
— Alex Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) July 2, 2022
Volkanovski: “Bring the heat!”
Holloway: “Always!”
Volkanovski: “Bring the heat!”
Holloway: “I am the f—king heat, brother!”
Volkanovski: “You soak up that energy.”
Holloway: “I am the heat, brother!”
Volkanovski: “You soak up that crowd, cause it ain’t going to help ya!”
Holloway: “I am the heat, brother!!”
Volkanovski: “It ain’t going to help you tomorrow! May as well do it today. Soak it up!”
Holloway removes his shirt and pounds on his chest: “You’re about to see, brother. I am the heat.”
Volkanovski: “Hey, your mind games backfired, baby.”
Holloway and Volkanovski fought each other twice already (full fight videos of both here), going a total of 50 minutes against each other in two extremely close matches in 2019 and 2020. Saturday night at UFC 276, they’ll start round 11 of their pretty intense rivalry.