Alexander Volkanovski was full of praise for his former rival following UFC 318.
In the main event on July 19, Max Holloway defeated Dustin Poirier to successfully defend the BMF title in New Orleans.
While their back and forth bout didn’t win fight of the night honors, which Holloway wasn’t happy about, it was still a great final dance for ‘The Diamond’.
Fight week may have centered around his opponent but for the defending champion, there were some big questions to answer.
Holloway dismissed claims about his last loss impacting him ahead of Saturday night and he proved that to be the case with his performance inside the Octagon.
Alexander Volkanovski praises Max Holloway’s ability to consistently bounce back from losses after UFC 318
Throughout his incredible career, Max Holloway has shown a remarkable ability to bounce back from big losses to remind everyone just how good he is.
He did just that at UFC 318 by beating Dustin Poirier after being stopped by Ilia Topuria last time out at UFC 308.
One man who knows more about this than any other is Alexander Volkanovski, who despite winning each of their three fights, couldn’t seem to get away from Holloway.
Having also rebounded from a difficult run of results earlier this year when he won the vacant featherweight title, ‘The Great’ was full of praise for his former rival.
In his instant reaction to fight on YouTube, Volkanovski highlighted Holloway’s ability to constantly reinvent himself after suffering big setbacks.
“I’m going to give Max a moment right now to just say how incredible that was. It is not easy to come back from losses. He’s showed time and time again from big losses, not just little losses, like world title losses off of tears.
“Even our third fight, to win the way I did, you’re probably thinking, ‘Oh, am I done?’. You’re going to start having some negative thoughts.
“Incredible fight from Max and to come back like that, touché mate.”
Alexander Volkanovski admits that he’d turn down Max Holloway’s point to the ground
As expected, the BMF title fight at UFC 318 ended with Max Holloway pointing to the ground, which Dustin Poirier obliged before getting hit with a barrage of shots.
Alexander Volkanovski gave ‘Blessed’ specific praise for not only bouncing back from a KO loss, but doing it in a BMF title fight where you know you’re going to take some damage.
While ‘The Great’ may have a reputation for wanting to fight anyone at any time, he admitted during the video that he’d swerve the point down if he ever found himself in that situation.
“He really is a BMF. I wouldn’t do that. I’ll tell you right now, I wouldn’t do that… I’m going to be a little strategic, you know what I mean? That’s just how I’ve always been and always will be and I’m proud of that.”
