Eugene Bareman says Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway 3 will be "nothing like the second fight"
According to Eugene Bareman, Alexander Volkanovski's trilogy bout against Max Holloway will be nothing like their second fight. Volkanovski's coach noted that 'Blessed' came back with good tactical changes in the rematch after 'The Great' overwhelmed him with "chess moves" in their first encounter.
Bareman believes it's up to himself, his team and Volkanovski to show what they're made of in the upcoming trilogy bout, which is set to go down at UFC 276 next month. The City Kickboxing head coach recently told Submission Radio:
"This fight is gonna be nothing like the second fight. Alex kind of played different chess moves that he used in the first fight. Max came back with a really good strategy and some really good tactics. And now the ball has kind of swung back towards [us], you know. Max is kicking off now but we're gonna get the ball. So now it's up to us and what we do."
Watch Eugene Bareman's interview with Submission Radio below:
Alexander Volkanovski challenged Max Holloway for the featherweight strap at UFC 245 in December 2019. Volkanovski made fantastic use of his low kicks to evade Holloway's forward pressure and earned a unanimous decision win, with the judges' final scorecards reading 48-47, 48-47 and 50-45 in favor of the Australian.
Holloway came out as the early aggresor in their rematch at UFC 251 the following year. While 'Blessed' dropped Volkanovski twice within the second round, 'The Great' started finding his momentum in round 3. He bounced back in the championship rounds to reel in a controversial split decision win.
Their third bout will be underway at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 2.
Max Holloway is ready to fight Alexander Volkanovski a 100 times to prove his superiority
While Alexander Volkanovski had the edge over Max Holloway in their initial encounter, the rematch was a nail-biter to say the least. Volkanovski's split decision victory was widely debated by fans and pundits alike.
While Holloway wasn't sure if he could land the trilogy fight, he was glad that most people scored the rematch in his favor. 'Blessed' also claimed that he would fight Volkanovski a hundred times if need be, to decide who the featherweight king really is.
The former champion told ESPN MMA's Brett Okamoto in an earlier interview:
“If it was Kobe [Bryant] and Michael [Jordan], they would play 10 times just to let people know who the best is. I strive for that mentality. If you want to run it back 100 times, we can do it. But I’m going to show you that I am the better guy – but that’s just the mentality. I don’t know what kind of mentality they have, what they seek and whatever, but that’s something they’ve got to figure out and they’ve got to do.”
Watch Max Holloway's interview with ESPN MMA below: