"It was unfortunate for Max" - Alexander Volkanovski discusses change in preparation after Max Holloway pulled out of the fight
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski discussed the changes in preparation he had to make after Max Holloway pulled out of their scheduled matchup.
Volkanovski was originally scheduled for a trilogy fight with Holloway for his next defense. However, 'Blessed' had to pull out due to an injury. His place was taken by Chan Sung Jung, who will challenge for the Aussie's place on the featherweight throne at UFC 273.
In an interview with BT Sport, Volkanovski highlighted the situation where he was originally scheduled to fight at UFC 271 but the fight got pushed to this weekend:
"It was obviously unfortunate for Max with the injury and that. Once we heard about the change and then the change of the date that gave us time to prepare anyway. So, it didn't really really matter. The preparation wasn't too bad. I didn't have to change too much. I think we've this fight with Zombie [Chan Sung Jung]. A good thing about that is my style of fighting covers a lot of ground."
Watch Alexander Volkanovski's interview with BT Sport below:
If 'The Great' manages to win on Saturday, the trilogy fight against Holloway will likely be the next matchup for him.
Alexander Volkanovski places Conor McGregor at the bottom of the list for all-time featherweight greats
Alexander Volkanovski hopes to be considered the greatest featherweight of all time but he’s not ready to put himself on top of that list just yet. At the same time, the Aussie has placed Conor McGregor at the bottom.
According to the reigning 145-pound champion, McGregor’s relatively short run at featherweight ultimately disqualifies him from sitting alongside the other fighters who held the title in the promotion.
Speaking at UFC 273 media day, Volkanovski said:
"You need [title] defenses, that’s the thing. I’m going to give him respect. The dude can fight. He made some bad decisions and all that type of stuff but he can fight. To take out Aldo in Aldo’s prime, that’s saying something as well. Aldo is still showing he’s still in his prime, he doesn’t age. But again, I feel like I’ve definitely done a lot more than him, so out of all the champions, I’d say he would have to be at the bottom of the list. He ain’t gonna like that but whatever."
Check out Alexander Volkanovski's comments on Conor McGregor as a featherweight champion below:
Volkanovski’s arrival in the UFC came almost a year after McGregor defeated Aldo to become champion, so they never crossed paths while competing at featherweight.