UFC News: Max Holloway reveals why he had to go through a "battery" of medical tests before booking fight against Alexander Volkanovski
Max "Blessed" Holloway is all set to make his fourth UFC Featherweight Title defense at UFC 245 when he takes on Australia's #1-ranked contender Alexander Volkanovski.
Volkanovski is coming off an incredible victory over Jose Aldo in Brazil. Even before the Holloway-Frankie Edgar fight was made for UFC 240, Volkanovski was the clear-cut #1 contender. With Holloway comfortably putting Edgar away, it was just a matter of when the fight against Volkanovski would be booked.
While Volkanovski would have loved to co-main event UFC 243 in his home country of Australia, the turnaround was too quick for Holloway, who had certain obstacles of his own to overcome.
When talking to MMA Junkie, Holloway revealed why he had to go through a series of medical tests before booking the UFC 245 fight:
"Why? I care about my longevity. These guys work for (my son) Rush. They don't work for me. They want to make sure I'm there for Rush."
Holloway said that in the long run, that's the wiser approach to take. The fact that he's going to be having his third title fight in the same year is incredible. It's not often that you see champions this active and Holloway's probably making up for the late 2017-18 period where he was a relatively inactive champion.
Holloway's health obviously comes first and it's good to see that he surrounds himself with a team of people who keep him in check. It wouldn't have made sense for him to accept the Volkanovski fight right off the bat, which is why he made sure that he was medically cleared first.
Holloway and Volkanovski will co-main event UFC 245, while the main event will feature Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman squaring off against Colby Covington. Also on the card, Amanda Nunes will defend the Bantamweight Championship against Germaine De Randamie.