Volkanovski Thinks Holloway Earned UFC Lightweight Title Shot
Reigning UFC Lightweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski hopped on his YouTube channel to share his belief that Max Holloway deserves a rematch with Ilia Topuria. He also believes the circumstances are a bit different this time (via MMAFighting).
“I know Max just fought him, but now it’s at lightweight where they both sort of want to be,” Volkanovski said. “You’ve got to think of who Max beat at lightweight. You’ve gotta go off the lightweight fights. Max beat Justin Gaethje, who I think is the No. 1 contender, and Poirier, who just fought for the title. So he literally beat the two top guys, the two main guys that you usually need to beat to get the title shot. That’s his only fights in lightweight — his streak right now — and it’s against the two top guys. You’d say he’s next. You would think so.
“Or Arman. Obviously, Arman was there. I don’t know what’s the deal with that. Paddy Pimblett, they did the faceoff. There’s a bit of bad blood. I don’t know if that’s happening, I don’t know if that’s locked in. But with Max, Max’s next fight could probably be for the title. I think that would be fair.”
Topuria, the reigning UFC Lightweight Champion, is the first fighter to knock Holloway out in a pro MMA bout. In the process, “El Matador” successfully defended the UFC Featherweight Championship before vacating the gold. At the end of June, Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira to capture the 155-pound title.