Max Holloway not chasing Alexander Volkanovski’s third encounter: ‘I’m not going to force anyone to fight me’

After his last victory, Max Holloway He sees big things in the future even if that doesn’t involve a third meeting with Alexander Volkanovsky.

Holloway cut a double fight slippage on Saturday, delivering a thrilling and dominating performance against it Calvin Katar In the main event Fight Island UFC 7. It was a stroll reminiscent of some of Holloway’s best work, which undoubtedly put him in the thick of the featherweight title picture.

Unfortunately for Holloway, their last two losses were in the championship clashes with Vulkanovsky, which would usually prevent a third meeting soon again. At their first meeting in UFC 245, Volkanovsky beat Holloway to win the featherweight title. They fought again after seven months on UFC 251 Volkanovsky won another decision, although the ruling was more controversial than in their first fight.

In his post-fight cage interview, Holloway expressed more interest in serving as a backup fighter next Saturday. UFC 257 The main event is between light weights Dustin Poirier And the Conor McGregor. Later in the evening, he also mentioned the possibility of a fight Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Another fight with Volkanovsky appears to be the furthest thing from Holloway’s mind.

“We’ll see what happens,” Holoway said in the press after the match on Saturday. “Even with Khabib, Khabib says he wants something very interesting. Maybe you pushed him over the edge a little bit. We had one of the best press conferences in the world, I guess, we didn’t have that fight. So we could throw that if he wanted to.” Volkanowski said – These are his words, not mine – he said he wants a different fight. He doesn’t want a tougher fight, guys, let that drown 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 going to force anyone to fight me.

“I’ll stay ready, do whatever I have to 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. Listen next week to the massive pay-per-view, massive pay-to-watch system, There is a bunch of surprises happening. “

In fact, Holloway and Nurmagomedov were briefly booked to fight in UFC 223 Back in April 2018. After Nurmagomedov’s original opponent was forced out of the main title of the event due to an injury, Holloway (the featherweight champion at the time) volunteered to fight Nurmagomedov and the two even made a promotional appearance to sell the fight. The match was later canceled when Holloway was determined medically unfit to compete this weekend.

According to an announcement from the UFC President Dana White On the Saturday broadcast on ABC, Nurmagomedov told him He might consider ending his retirement if the opportunity presented itself, hence the renewed interest of Holloway in the Nurmagomedov challenge.

Getting a chance to hand “The Eagle” his first loss or his revenge loss to Boerer or MacGregor are exactly the kind of challenges that Holloway is looking for at this point in his career. Considering that he repeatedly joked about climbing into heavyweight to fight his friend Daniel CormierEvery elite fighter seems to be on Holloway’s list.

“I want old fights, I want big fights, I want fights like this, we’re on ABC,” Holloway said. “I want history. So the belt, no belt, whatever, I want to fight. … you guys think someone is the best fighter in the world, tell me guys, tell me. I’m going to sign this dotted line.”