Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
If the newly crowned featherweight champion was hoping to get someone other than Holloway for his first title defense, it sounds like he won’t get his wish.
After defeating former featherweight champion Max Holloway back in December of 2019, to claim UFC gold, newly crowned champion Alexander Volkanovski sounded like he was looking forward to taking on new challenges.
“I was struggling to give him one round,” Volkanovski said, upon re-watching the fight. “I mean, my coaches are even going to say he deserves that rematch. But they watched the tape and they’re like, ‘You can’t just give him a rematch after that.”
Still, any hesitation of the Aussie’s part doesn’t seem to be stopping UFC president Dana White from pushing ahead with rematch plans. In a recent interview, White revealed that he’s currently working on getting the rematch booked—assumedly for sometime later this year.
“Holloway,” White answered when asked who he’d like to see Volkanovski face next. Adding that he’s hoping to see the fight made “very soon.”
“We’re working on that right now.”
No potential date or location for the bout has been announced at this time. For the moment, the UFC appears to have plans in place for title fight headliners on PPV cards out through May. That could mean fans will potentially be looking forward to Holloway vs. Volkanovski 2 sometime this summer.