Holloway on Volkanovski: ‘I’m not gonna force someone to fight me’
“He knows who the toughest challenge is, he knows it’s me, so at the end of the day I’m not gonna force someone to fight me,” Holloway said of Volkanovski.
Max Holloway won’t chase a trilogy fight with Alex Volaknovski if the featherweight champion is not interested in fighting him.
This past weekend at UFC Fight Island 7, Holloway defeated Calvin Kattar by a one-sided unanimous decision. The win snapped a two-fight losing skid for Holloway, with both of those losses being against the current champion Volkanovski.
Talking at the post-fight press conference, Holloway discussed his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov that fell through in 2018 and the Volkanovski trilogy.
“We’ll see what happens,” Holloway said. “Even with Khabib, Khabib is saying he wants something that’s super interesting. Maybe I pushed him over the edge a little bit. We had one of the best press conferences in the world, I think, we just didn’t have the fight. So we could throw that in if he wanted to.
“Volkanovski said—This is his words, not mine—he said he wants a different fight. He don’t want a tougher fight, guys, let that sink in. He wants a different fight. He didn’t say I want a tougher challenge. He knows who the toughest challenge is, he knows it’s me, so at the end of the day I’m not gonna force someone to fight me.”
This weekend at UFC 257, Conor McGregor will rematch Dustin Poirier in a repeat of their 2014 fight, this time taking place at 155-pounds. Holloway is staying on “Fight Island” until that fight takes place in case either competitor is forced to pull-out.
“I’m gonna stay ready, do whatever I gotta do, and just be ready. Like I said, I’m here until next week. If something happens in this crazy wild sport, don’t be surprised. Tune in next week to the pay-per-view, huge pay-per-view, there’s a bunch of surprises happening.”
The UFC is planning on booking Volkanovski against top contender Brian Ortega next. Dana White said they would consider booking the trilogy between “Volko” and Holloway should the Australian win that fight.