Max Holloway recently reacted to Alexander Volkanovski's dominant fifth title-defense against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290. 'The Great' managed to execute the perfect gameplan against his Mexican counterpart, by taking Rodriguez to the ground and launching vicious ground-and-pound.
It seemed like Rodriguez didn't have a fitting answer to Volkanovski's grappling onslaught, and was eventually finished via TKO in the third-round. Max Holloway praised 'The Great' for his win but also stated that the Australian fighter picked the 'easiest' route to beat the Mexican former interim featherweight champion.
Here's what Max Holloway said on his YouTube channel:
"The main event - man, Volk knew what he had to do. He knew the mission. He knew how to get the work done. He went in there and just, you know [did his thing]. I thought Alex was going to stand with Yair for a little bit but they just wrestled, though. [Volkanovski] made the fight easy - the easiest way for him and, you know, he got it done - he got that finish, the KO."
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Skip to 5:06 for Max Holloway's thoughts on the UFC 290 main event:
'Blessed' continued:
"Yair couldn't really [land] his strikes, couldn't really get off [every time he got taken down]. Alex - he just understood the assignment and he got it done man, you know. So, congrats to him and we'll see what happens next, you know? I can't wait [to fight Volkanovski again]. I said it in the last video - I don't want someone to dethrone this guy, I want to be that guy. I'll see you soon, my friend."
Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski were involved in one of the most epic trilogy bouts ever witnessed in the UFC. In all three fights, Volkanovski bested the Hawaiian former featherweight champion, although the second fight was very close.
Will Max Holloway fight Alexander Volkanovski for a fourth time?
With a loss to the featherweight king at UFC 290, Yair Rodriguez slipped to the No.2-spot in the rankings. Holloway currently holds the No.1-spot and might be on a crash course to meeting his arch nemesis in the division with another win.
Holloway is set to face 'The Korean Zombie' Chan-Sung Jung at this year's Singapore event, i.e., UFC on ESPN 50 - set to take place on August 26 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.
With a win over his Korean counterpart, 'Blessed' could very well find himself fighting for the title next. Holloway only has losses to Alexander Volkanovski, Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier in the featherweight division. In fact, Volkanovski and Poirier are the only two fighters who have two or more wins over the former featherweight champion.