Alexander Volkanovski believes Max Holloway doesn’t want an immediate rematch and there is no clear contender for his first title defense.
Back at UFC 245, Volkanovski dethroned Holloway in a dominating performance where some argued he won every single round. For the Aussie, he is happy with his performance and knew he had won the fight.
“Five rounds of that to go out there and shut Max down. Max wasn’t able to throw what he normally throws. It went well. But, there were other things we could have done but we didn’t need to,” Alexander Volkanovski said to MMA News. “Even on the feet, we had options on the feet, one thing wouldn’t work we would go to this or that. We didn’t need to go any further than that. Max is a great champion and we could have incorporated wrestling. I’m a very well-rounded fighter, if I had to take him down I could have but we didn’t need to.”
With the win over Holloway, Volkanovski becomes just the second person to beat Holloway, Jose Aldo, and Chad Mendes. The other being Conor McGregor. So, with three massive wins, the Aussie knows he has entered the talk of being the featherweight GOAT.
“I’m not going to sit there and say I’m the greatest of all-time. But, it does make you jump the queue a little bit. I am up there,” he explained. “Not many people can say they’ve taken out the guys I’ve taken out especially in the last little 12, 13 months. It is big but at the same time I have to defend the belt and take out a few people and I’ll let people say it.”
For Alexander Volkanovski to attain GOAT status at featherweight he knows he needs to defend his belt a couple of times. But, he is currently healing a broken hand so will be out for the foreseeable future.
While he heals up his injury, he has a simple message to the featherweight division. Go and take the number one contender spot as he believes there is no true number one contender.
“I don’t even know if Max wants a rematch. He wasn’t talking about, does he want to fight at lightweight a little bit and see what happens? But, if you look at the fight, I probably won every single round so does he deserve the rematch? He was a great champion but I won pretty clearly,” Volkanovski stated. “You have to see I guess. We then got Zombie [Chan Sung Jung], Zombie is on a two-fight winning streak. I wouldn’t say he’s a clear number one contender.
“You got Zabit, he’s on a decent win streak but he hasn’t beat any of the top contenders. Then, you got Brian Ortega who is a top contender but he hasn’t fought for so long. There is no clear contender,” he continued. “But, one thing, my message is, I’m out here with a broken hand, I’m on the sidelines and I won’t be able to fight mid-year plus, so there is time to take the number one contender spot.
“What are you guys waiting for? Don’t just hope you get it, go and take it. Zombie and Zabit are arguing who’s going to be next. Go fight each other and be the number one contender. Brian Ortega the same thing, take them out. That’s how I did it. I was fighting in Brazil against Aldo because I wanted the number one contender spot,” Alexander Volkanovski continued. “I went to Canada after my infection, because I didn’t want anyone to take that opportunity. I’m going to make sure I’d cement myself as the number one contender. I earned it, it wasn’t given to me and these guys can go and do the same thing. You are one fight away from being a clear number one. If you believe in yourself, go take out who else is in question. Take that spot and I’ll see you soon.”
Volkanovski says he expects to return to the Octagon in June or July and is hoping someone at featherweight has a fight to earn the title fight against him.
For now, he is healing his hand injury and waiting to see what happens at featherweight.
