Alexander
Volkanovski believes Max
Holloway is on the cusp of a lightweight title shot.
Holloway is scheduled to put his BMF title on the line against
Charles
Oliveira at
UFC 326 on March 7 in Las Vegas. Volkanovski believes Oliveira
has to finish Holloway early or he’ll get stopped in the later
rounds by “Blessed.”
“I’m gonna go with a finish for Max,” Volkanovski said on YouTube. “It’s either Charles lands and gets a
finish early, or he gets finished in the later rounds… I’m leaning
more towards a finish than a decision for Max.”
Volkanovski also believes Holloway, whom he has beaten thrice,
deserves a lightweight title shot with a win over Oliveira.
Volkanovski argues that Holloway has recently beaten the interim
lightweight champ Justin
Gaethje and former perennial contender Dustin
Poirier, while only losing to the champion Ilia
Topuria.
An Impressive Run
“He’s taken out Gaethje, who is the interim champ. He’s taken out
Dustin
Poirier, who’s fought for the title how many times? And now
he’s gonna beat Charles
Oliveira… How’s he not fighting for the title?” Volkanovski
said. “I believe he should have already fought for the title… 100%
he fights for the belt, I think that’s clear.”
Holloway (27-8) is 4-1 since his last failed featherweight title
bid against Volkanovski in 2022. “Blessed” has sandwiched a loss
against Topuria between wins over Gaethje and Poirier in his last
three outings. Meanwhile, Oliveira (36-11) has alternated between
wins and losses in his last six outings. “Do Bronx” comes off a
submission win over Mateusz
Gamrot that saw him rebound from a knockout loss against
Topuria.