A lot of hate has been thrown over Alexander Volkanovski’s title reign after his controversial win over Max Holloway. It even went to a point that Volkanovski received death threats which are obviously not right. Holloway even spoke to the people sending him threats to stop it. It was not Volkanovki’s fault that the judges gave it to him, that sports and it happens.
Although it was a close fight, whoever won the third round of their fight basically won the fight, and it was close. You cannot blame Volkanovski for taking the nod, it took greatness coming back after being down two rounds against a cardio machine like Max Holloway.
Although Volkanovski is not really bothered about the hate since at the end of the day, he is still the featherweight champion. He was assigned to become a coach in the Ultimate Fighter TV series against Brian Ortega, which will later lead to both coaches facing each other for the featherweight title. Initially, both were set to face UFC 260 but were later canceled due to Volkanovski testing positive for COVID.
Volkanovski will surely remove doubts of his reign if he puts up a magnificent performance against a dangerous Brian Ortega who just keeps getting better. Many are aware of Ortega’s high-level BJJ and that he can submit his opponents anywhere but after losing to Max Holloway, he needed to work on his striking. In his fight against Chan Sung Jung, he showed leaps of improvement, he has become a more well-round MMA fighter.
As for Volkanovski, it was no luck that he beat Holloway twice. Yes, the rematch may be razor-thin close and controversial but two judges gave it to him. Volkanovski has also shown that his cardio or endurance could match even that of Max Holloway’s which is really impressive.
Volkanovski has beaten Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo, and Max Holloway in his UFC run. Not bad, for a featherweight. He is also undefeated in the UFC, will he be able to handle a much taller and longer Ortega. He still has that leg kick game, that gave him the nod over Holloway. Volkanovski likes to chop down the legs of his opponents, which will hurt as the round goes on.
Many are now aware of how lethal a leg kick is, yes it was already there but lately there have been many “leg-kicks wins fights” types of ending. Volkanovski also has great reading in the game where he can make huge adjustments mid-fight, and they say fights are all about adjustments.
Many are already saying that whoever wins the title fight will face Max Holloway for their next title defense. As for Ortega, he needs to avenge his only loss and for Volkanovski, even though he already beat Holloway twice, there is no other fighter that is on the front line for a title shot than Holloway since he just showed a masterclass against Calvin Kattar.
