UFC featherweight king Alex Volkanovski seems to think that his long-time rival Max Holloway might have been faking the injury that knocked him out of their planned trilogy bout at UFC 272.
Early in January, it was reported that a third fight pitting Volkanovski (23-1) versus Holloway (23-6) was set to headline the UFC’s planned pay-per-view card in March. However, before fans and media could sink their teeth into the discourse about another bout between the two best featherweights on the planet, the matchup was off after “Blessed” reaggravated a previous injury.
Eventually, the UFC and their champion settled on fourth-ranked “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung (17-6) as the replacement for Holloway in the promotion’s next 145-pound title fight. The new booking was also pushed back a month and will now serve as the main event of UFC 273 on April 9 in Jacksonville, Fla.
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Last week, ESPN reported that the Hawaiian had been medically cleared to return to training. As well as the news that Holloway informed the UFC he would be willing to serve as fight week replacement for Volkanovski vs Jung, in the event one of them was unable to make weight for the bout.
The champ’s been mostly quiet following the news of the fast improvement in Holloway’s health. That is until Tuesday night. In a post to his Twitter account, the Australian tossed some shade in the direction of his two-time opponent. Insinuating that Holloway was never really injured and was just avoiding the possibility of losing a third straight time to him.
“@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,” Volkanovski wrote. “…but hey “if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying.”
Volkanovski dethroned Holloway in Dec. of 2019 by unanimous decision. Then he defeated his rival seven months later with a razor-thin split-decision victory. The former champion’s supporters claim Holloway should have won the pair’s rematch, and have been clamoring for a third fight ever since.
Do you think the champ really believes that Holloway wasn’t honest about his injury, or is the trash talk just a bit of mental warfare?
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