Alexander Volkanovski not ruling out trilogy with Max Holloway, but wants other contenders first

Alexander Volkanovski can see himself fighting Max Holloway again, but just not right now.

Volkanovski (22-1 MMA, 9-0 UFC), the UFC featherweight champion, has spent 10 rounds with Holloway, dethroning him last December at UFC 245 then narrowly edging him out in their rematch at UFC 251 to retain his title.

Their second fight was a lot closer after Holloway made major adjustments and scored a couple of brief knockdowns early in the fight. Volkanovski came on stronger in the later rounds and was able to get the split decision after 25 minutes of battle.

But with numerous hungry contenders on the rise in the featherweight division, Volkanovski is happy to move on. Chan Sung Jung is scheduled to face Brian Ortega in UFC’s Oct. 17 main event and Zabit Magomedsharipov and Yair Rodriguez are reportedly going to square off at UFC 254.

While Volkanovski is focusing on the next wave of contenders, that doesn’t mean he can’t see himself facing Holloway one more time down the line.

“If Max stays in this division and he’s taken on fighters and he’s wiping them out, 100 percent (we’ll fight again),” Volkanovski told MMA Junkie. “I think later down the track, it’s a big fight, it’s a big opportunity. Even though I’m 2-0, there still seems like there’s still unfinished business, you could sort of say. But obviously to rematch right now, when Dana White and a few people were saying let’s do a trilogy, just seemed crazy to me. And obviously they knew that was pretty crazy, so they stopped that pretty quick.

“I think it’s a big fight. I think it’s something that could definitely happen. But again, it’s not anytime soon. Even though he’s still up there, he just needs a couple of fights, and obviously I need to play on in the division. I need to move on, and later down the track, maybe we can do it and that would be a huge fight. So I would never say no to that later down the track, but right now that’s just not the fight to make.”

Despite being up 2-0, Volkanovski understands the magnitude of a trilogy with one of the greatest featherweights of all time in Holloway (21-6 MMA, 17-6 UFC). The rematch sparked plenty of discussion, which would make a potential third fight even bigger.

“It’s still got a lot of people talking at the end of the day,” Volkanovski said. “It got a lot of people talking and there’s a lot of people that would still be interested in that, so it is a big chapter. People would be talking about that as you can see on my comments – people are still saying stuff. So definitely I think it’ll end up being probably a good thing for me. If we do make that third fight eventually, I do believe that it’s going to be right up there for some of the greatest trilogies, and an interesting one as well, the fact that I’m 2-0 and he still gets a third fight.

“That’s what I mean by for your profile, for your legacy, even for the division, just for myself. Then you’re talking money, as well. There’s a lot that comes into it, and that’s why I definitely would not say I’m never fighting him again – but just definitely not right now. It is a big chapter in my life, and I think maybe down the track maybe we both don’t want to cut weight and we fight at lightweight. We’ll see what happens.”