Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway says fans should expect another epic clash when he takes on reigning champion Alexander Volkanovski, and said they would be “blessed” if the two fighters took the action into the championship rounds for a third consecutive meeting.
Volkanovski defeated Holloway in the first fight to dethrone the Hawaiian and kick off his championship reign at 145 pounds. Then Holloway agonisingly lost out on the scorecards in the rematch in a bout many observers thought he had done enough to win.
Now, after two blistering performances against Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez, Holloway is back at the top of the division and ready for a third meeting with the Australian. It may be a familiar matchup, but Holloway said fans would see two different fighters in the cage on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
“If you watch from the first (fight) to the second fight, (we’re) two different fighters, and on from the second (fight) to this fight it’s going to be different fighters again,” he said.
“But I feel good, I feel great. I feel on. I got to spend 10 rounds with this guy. I’ve been saying it all week, man. You guys will be blessed if we go above three (rounds). I can’t wait.”
Holloway is the second most dominant UFC featherweight champion in the promotion’s history, behind fellow former champ Jose Aldo, and he sees his clash with the current champ Volkanovski as a genuine opportunity to further his legacy as one of the UFC’s all-time greats.
“This is a legacy fight, 100 percent,” he explained.
“You guys all know what pound-for-pound ranking he is. You guys know what pound-for-pound ranking I am. We’re on the the higher end of the pound-for-pound rankings and these (fights) aren’t happening in the past decade, you know? Only one comes to mind and that’s DC and Jones.
“So this is a legacy fight. This is huge in every way. Not, to be honest. I really, like people are calling us the main event of this card, you know, and that’s saying a lot about this fight. That’s what it is.”
