Australia

Alex Volkanovski

USA

Max Holloway

Max Holloway will reclaim the championship belt for himself

It's hard to even recall a situation in world martial arts where there has been a trilogy between fighters after two victories by one of the athletes. Often the organizers allow for a third time to determine the winner if the scoreline is 1-1 in head-to-head encounters, but in the case of Volkanovski and Holloway it was different. Max Holloway lost the championship belt in the first bout and then lost the second time in a rematch. There was a lot of talk after the rematch, as most experts believe that Max won that fight and Dana White himself immediately after the fight agreed with the opinion of Matt Serra, who was dumbfounded that Alexander was given the win. According to the experts, Volkanovski took round 1 in the second fight and it was a shock that Holloway was so clearly robbed. It seemed impossible for Max to return to the title race after that, and who would give a third fight at 2-0 in the individual rounds? However, with his phenomenal wins over Kattar and Rodriguez, 'Blessed' deserved another chance. As for Volkanovski, Alex managed to beat Ortega after two victories over Max, almost beating him by submission, and recently he took down The Korean Zombie in a very confusing fight. Strange thing, what was the Korean awarded with the title, he lost three of his last seven fights and he hasn't defeated any top fighter for a long time. Whatever the case, Volkanovski just mocked the ageing legend and won easily. Alex, it seems to me, is a very readable fighter who has honed his style as perfectly as possible, but he has no variety. Prior to the Zombie fight, he had four wins by decision. He has very strong punches but is not very strong in his series work, he constantly overreacts, steps back after punches and that makes him not the most spectacular fighter. In the second fight between Holloway and Volkanovski, it was evident that Max was getting a feel for the distance and through the length of his arms, he shook his opponent a couple of times, while 'The Great One' worked purely for points and tried to just work his way to victory with the judges. I don't think Volkanovski is a perfect fighter, he's very simple and I hope Holloway shows about the same level as in their second fight, but now the judges won't be able to steal the true champion and in the third fight already Max will win and get his belt back.