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Alexander Volkanovski is set to face Max Holloway in a rematch from UFC 245, where he defeated the popular Featherweight to become the king of the 145-pound division. Max Holloway recently claimed that he trained for UFC 251 alone due to strict lockdown rules in Hawaii.
As a result, he said he had to use Zoom to take his classes from his coaches. Alexander Volkanovski recently spoke to ESPN and said that he isn't buying that story:
“To be quite honest, I don’t believe that. That’s all s**t,” he said. “Whether he’s doing it to cover things on his end — I don’t want to accuse him of anything — but we had to get exemptions to train, so I couldn’t train until I got that done. So there was a lot that needed to happen for the government. Again, I’m not going to accuse him of anything, but I don’t believe that he hasn’t been training. I’m preparing for a fully prepared Max either way.”
It's going to be interesting to see how their rematch plays out. Last time around, Alexander Volkanovski defeated Max Holloway by a comfortable unanimous decision.
Alexander Volkanovski is looking to make his mark in the 145-pound division
Should Alexander Volkanovski successfully defend the Featherweight Championship against Max Holloway, it will undoubtedly establish him as the true king of the division. Barring any injuries, he will be expected to be a busy Champion.
Yair Rodriguez and Zabit Magomedsharipov are set to face off next month while Brian Ortega will be returning to the Octagon after nearly two years to face the 'Korean Zombie', Chan Sung Jung.
The latter would likely have been booked or have happened by now had it not been for South Korea's strict lockdown restriction. Dana White claimed that Ortega vs Zombie will determine the next Featherweight title opponent while Magomedsharipov's manager Rizvan Magomedov claimed that a win over Yair Rodriguez will secure the Russian a title shot.
If Max Holloway wins, UFC will book a trilogy fight, which might mean that the winners of the two above-mentioned matches would have to go at it to stay active.
