The rematch everyone is waiting for is finally going to happen at UFC 251 at Fight Island, as featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski puts his belt at stake against the same fighter he snatched it from in the form of Max Holloway. Will Volkanovski leave Holloway with another loss? Or will Holloway reunite with the UFC featherweight title?
You certainly wouldn’t find Volkanovski telling stories during a group therapy of struggling UFC fighters. The man hasn’t lost since 2013. Since getting stopped by Corey Nelson in the Australian Fighting Championship seven years ago, Volkanovski has not picked up a loss, winning all his 18 fights since. In his most recent fight, Volkanovski trounced Holloway in December of last year at UFC 245 to secure the featherweight belt, and in the process, snap Holloway’s lengthy win streak in the division. In his win over Holloway, Volkanovski showed that he can keep up with Holloway standing up. In fact, it was Holloway, who lost the striking battle, as Volkanovski landed more significant strikes, 157-134. Volkanovski is third among active featherweight fighters in the UFC in strikes landed per minute with 6.35 and is the most accurate, connecting on 56.3 percent of his blows. Like in his unanimous win over Holloway last December, where he had more strikes landed than Holloway in the first three rounds, Volkanovski is looking to control the pace early in the rematch.
Holloway is out for revenge — and the belt that was taken from him by Volkanovski. Holloway won the featherweight title in 2016 by beating Anthony Pettis, then moved up to lightweight last year to try to become a two-division champ. He failed in that mission, as he took a unanimous decision loss to Dustin Poirier. He went back to featherweight and beat Frankie Edward before relinquishing the division’s title to Volkanovski. Holloway is always an exciting fighter to watch because he rarely shoots for takedowns and gets taken down. He’s avoided the mat 62 percent of the time and has only been submitted once in his career. He also has a strong chin, which makes him even more dangerous in a strikefest, because he’s capable of taking shots while dishing out his own. Holloway has 10 wins via knockouts and he’s never been knocked out, so far in his MMA career. Holloway needs to take off where he left off in his last meeting with Volkanovski. He was the better fighter in the last two rounds of that fight and just fell short of successfully retaining his belt.
