Holloway out of trilogy fight vs. Volkanovski at UFC 272
Well that was quick.
It feels like just the other day that a trilogy fight between UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway was on deck for March 5th.
Oh wait, that was two days ago.
Well the bad news has hit seemingly in record time, as Holloway has been forced to withdraw from the fight after aggravating a prior injury (per ESPN’s Brett Okamoto). It is unknown whether or not the UFC will re-book this trilogy at a later date or if we’ll see Volkanovski defend his title against someone else.
Holloway (23-6) is coming off a thrilling decision win over Yair Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 42 in November. The Hawaiian also soundly defeated Calvin Kattar over five rounds at the start of 2021. Holloway lost his featherweight title to Volkanovski back at UFC 245 by unanimous decision, then suffered an agonizing split decision loss in the rematch at UFC 251 in July 2020.
Volkanovski (23-1) had just one fight in 2021, a unanimous decision over Brian Ortega at UFC 266. The Aussie has won 20 in a row, which obviously stretches back to when he was on the regional scene and not in the UFC. He also holds wins over Jose Aldo, Chad Mendes, and Darren Elkins.
The good news is that UFC 272 still has a men’s bantamweight title rematch between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan. For now.