Even after beating Holloway three times, Volkanovski is still having to field questions about fighting “Blessed” again.
Alexander Volkanovski has already beaten Max Holloway three times, but he might just be down for a fourth scrap if the BMF belt is on the line.
Holloway is one of the hottest fighters in the UFC right now after “Blessed” delivered a wild buzzer-beating KO of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300. Prior to that, he was being overlooked as nothing more than an inconvenient gatekeeper who was knocking back too many of Volkanovski’s potential challengers.
Now he has all the options in the world, from a featherweight title shot against Ilia Topuria to red panty night with Conor McGregor. And maybe even a chance to avenge those losses to Alexander Volkanovski?
“Would I fight him? Now that he’s got the BMF we might have to do this, you know what I mean?” Volkanovski said during an interview with Fox Sports Australia.
“I was always sitting there like, ‘How could you do [a fourth fight]?’ But maybe there is that something there … there’s a BMF now. For me, it’s 3-0. How can you get yourself out of bed for that? A BMF is something I haven’t touched before, so maybe we can do that, you know? So we’ll see what happens.”
Max Holloway certainly added to the mystique and legitimacy of the BMF belt with the way he beat Justin Gaethje at UFC 300. It also probably helps that fighters get PPV points when they fight for the novelty title.
While Holloway is taking a break and hasn’t settled on who he’ll fight next, smart money is on him facing Ilia Topuria next for the featherweight title. Topuria took the title off Volk in February, knocking the longtime champion out. That’s two knockouts in the span of four months, and “The Great” intends to give his brain some time to rest. That leaves Max as the obvious No. 1 contender, unless McGregor distracts him.
The BMF belt may intrigue Volkanovski, but getting the 145 pound strap back is everything to the Australian. If Max wants his shot at avenging those three losses to Alex, winning the belt off Topuria is the best way to do it.