When the UFC announced Alex Volkanovski would be facing Max Holloway again there was a weird buzz going around – for one the promotion announced the fight before the papers were signed. They were called out on this move by Ariel Helwani.
Pretty quickly after the announcement it became apparent the fight is a no-go. Official word from the Holloway camp followed just a week after the announcement and declared him out. At this point many fighters started offering to step in – many except for Korean Zombie. Zombie (Chan Sung Jung) seemed silent on the subject. And when many pushed for Giga Chikadze (in spite of Chikadze having a booked fight against Calving Katar). Jung was soon announced as an official replacement.
Fastforward a month later – and now the word from Holloway’s camp is that he’s received medical clearance and wants to be the back up for the fight. This shenanigan wasn’t welcomed by the reigning champ Alex Volkanovski.
Volkanovski was quick to call out Holloway on social media saying:
“(Holloway) wants to be the backup fighter for the fight he was originally scheduled to fight. Man facepalming so in other words…he was never injured. Just hoping he doesn’t have to fight me or fight me while I’m preparing for someone…but hey “if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying – …NO”
@BlessedMMA wants to be the backup fighter for the fight he was originally scheduled to fight.??♂️ so in other words…he was never injured. Just hoping he doesn’t have to fight me or fight me while I’m preparing for someone…but hey “if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying”?…NO
— Alex Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) February 9, 2022
Volkanovski kept his jabs above the belt for the most part.
Volkanovski (23-1 MMA, 10-0 UFC) and Holloway (23-6 MMA, 19-6 UFC) were originally booked for their trilogy fight at UFC 272 in March, later the date was moved to April 9 in Jacksonville, Fla.