If the Coronavirus pandemic hadn’t engulfed the entire world, UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski would have been defending his title against Max Holloway at UFC 250 tomorrow.
The fight would have taken place in Melbourne, Australia. But with the global pandemic wreaking havoc around the world, UFC is hosting UFC 250 at its Apex Facility in Las Vegas without any crowd. The fight card is being headlined by women’s featherweight champion Amanda Nunes and Felicia Spencer.
While Volkanovski can’t fight at UFC 250, he is still keeping himself in shape and training alongside his teammate Brad Riddell.
Both fighters were checking out their power on the UFC punching machine. Brad Riddell recorded 55940 on the scale while hitting it with a left hook. Alexander Volkanovski didn’t attempt a left hook, instead, he went for a spinning elbow and scored 22138 on the scale. He, however, improved his score in his second attempt when he hit 44095 on the scale.
When will Alexander Volkanovski return?
Alexander Volkanovski last fought at UFC 245 against Max Holloway. In this fight, he became the new featherweight champion by dethroning the Hawaiian star via a unanimous decision.
His plans to fight Holloway at UFC 250 in his home country has been derailed because of the Coronavirus outbreak. However, UFC president Dana White is confident that both fighters will be able to compete soon. While it’s unclear if Volkanivski will be able to travel to the US for fights, he could be a part of UFC Fight Island. His countrymen, Robert Whittaker is competing against Darren Till on July 25 at Fight Island.
Volkanovski not keen on a rematch with Max Holloway
Volkanovski revealed in an interview earlier this year that an immediate rematch doesn’t make sense because the fight wasn’t as close as he had initially anticipated.
“Straight after, Dana White was mentioning the rematch and even I touched base on it but watching back the tape, the fight wasn’t probably as close as I originally thought,” Volkanovski said last month in an interview.
“Watching it again and I was trying to watch it as I was trying not to be biased. I was definitely trying to notice everything that he done and I was struggling to give him one round. I really did. There’s obviously rounds that was a lot closer than others but if you’re giving him a round, it’s purely because he was champion and you wanted him to win. That’s the way I look at it. There was some rounds that were a little bit closer but I was struggling to give him a round. I really was. But it’s not like I blew him out of the park every round but I was definitely ahead.”
“If it was a lot closer, a split decision, stuff like that, I mean my coaches are even going to say he deserves that rematch. But they watched the tape and they’re like ‘you can’t just give him a rematch after that,’” Volkanovski said. “I’m the type of person, I’ll fight whoever.
“I believe I’ll get the job done anyway. Not just that, I reckon there’s money in that rematch as well and I could probably redo my contract, we’ll see. Again, we’ll just see. There’s time.”
“Max hasn’t really been talking about the rematch or anything. I don’t know if he wants to fight lightweight. He’s been talking about that for a long time,” Volkanovski said.
“Without being rude, I was saying that I would take that belt and I would make that decision easier for you and you could move up. Maybe that’s what he is doing, I don’t know.”
Who do you guys think wins in the rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway?
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