Holloway v Volkanovski 3 has been booked for UFC 272 in March 2022. The first 2 times that the pair met, Volkanovski won both times via decision. However, the 2nd fight’s decision was considered controversial by some, and it caused mass hysteria in the MMA world. Dana White even indicated that he thought Max had won the 2nd fight, and that he was let down by the judges:
“Listen, man, you can’t leave it to these guys… “We’ve got some bad judging. We’ve got some bad judging and—I don’t know, has Max been in here yet? I’m sure he’s devastated.”
MMA Fighting
So because of Max’s history of being a dominant featherweight Champion, combined with the controversial decision in the 2nd fight, many were keen for the pair to meet for a 3rd time. However, Max decided to test himself against others in the featherweight division, and in his next fight, he showed why some still believe him to be the greatest featherweight of all time.
Max fought rising star Kalvin Kattar, and put on the performance of a lifetime. He broke his own UFC record for most significant strikes thrown in a single fight (445). He was awarded a 50-42 decision score on 1 judge’s scorecard, only the 2nd ever 50-42 scorecard ever given in the UFC’s history (the other being in the Rich Franklin v David Loiseau fight).
Here are some other records Max broke that night:
He even added a viral highlight to his career when, with 90 seconds left in the fight, he turned away from his opponent to face the commentary booth and shouted at them “I’m the best boxer [in the UFC]” while at the same time slipping punches from Kattar.
With performances like that, it is clear that Max is still his usual amazing self, and both and Volkanovski and the consensus best featherweights in the division in early 2022.
However, Volkanovski believes that Max was hesitant to take the 3rd fight against him, for one particular reason.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Volkanovski said that he believes Max knows what a 3rd loss to him does for the Hawaiian’s featherweight legacy.
For Max, this is a big deal. You fight me again and lose and go 0-3 against me in the featherweight division, in your prime, you talk about legacy, your name isn’t in the GOAT conversation anymore.
Volkanovski’s YouTube channel
As much as Max is a beast, and a fan favourite who has torn through the FW division, beating greats like Aldo x 2, Pettis, Edgar, Ortega and more. Losing 3 times to another featherweight fighter will surely remove doubt over who the best fighter is in the division.
In his video, Alex also used the words “in his prime” to describe Holloway. He means that Max is in the best form of his life, and he is not on the decline. often times in MMA, we see elite fighters enter the last part of their career, and they start losing fights to fighters who, in their prime, they might have beaten.
It’s a natural part of life for a lot of fighters and just something that happens with age, or ‘wear and tear’. However, a lot of fight fans understand this and so they will defend the legacy of the fighter who lost, because they were not “in their prime”.
However, neither Holloway, nor his fans (like me), can make this argument when he is still putting on performances of a lifetime (like he did against Kattar).
See the full video segment below:
Max Holloway, as of early 2022, is undoubtedly still in the discussion for FW GOAT, even with the 2 losses to Volkanovski. However, a 3rd loss, in his prime, to Volk would make it very difficult for him to hold on to his legacy as the featherweight GOAT.
Max has had an amazing career so far (he’s still only 29!) but If he wants any chance of going down in history as MMA’s featherweight GOAT, then he absolutely must find a way to beat the hardened champ, Alex Volkanovski at UFC 272.
This is what we are tuning in to watch in March, the battle for Max Holloway’s FW legacy!
If he doesn’t pull off a victory, then he may need to rebuild himself at lightweight, because surely we can’t keep seeing Holloway v Volkanovski rematches over and over, just because they’re the 2 clear best fighters in the division. We’ll be in the year 2026 watching Holloway v Volkanovski 9…
