Alexander Volkanovski believes Max Holloway may have done enough to earn another title shot — this time at UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria.
Holloway (29-7 MMA, 23-8 UFC) improved to 2-1 in the UFC’s lightweight division with a win over Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 318 last Saturday night. The victory marked a strong return for the Hawaiian, who suffered the first knockout loss of his career when he challenged Topuria for the featherweight title at UFC 308 last October.
Prior to that defeat, Holloway delivered one of the most iconic moments of his career, knocking out Justin Gaethje in the final seconds of their bout at UFC 300 last April.
Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) — who earlier this year vacated his 145-pound title to move up to lightweight — recently captured the vacant belt with a knockout win over Charles Oliveira.
Former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who holds three wins over Holloway from his reign at 145, believes Holloway’s latest performance might be enough to catapult him into title contention once again — this time for Topuria’s lightweight crown.
“Well, I mean, Max, I know he just fought (Topuria), but now (he’s) in lightweight where they both sort of want to be, you've got to think of who Max beat in lightweight," Volkanosvki said in a video posted to his YouTube channel. "You've got to go off their lightweight fights, right? Max has beaten Justin Gaethje, who I think is the number one contender. And Poirier, who's just fought for the title. So he's literally beaten the two top guys, main guys, that you need to beat to usually get a title shot. He only fights in lightweight. Well, he's tearing (it up) right now. He's streaking against the two top guys. You'd say he'd be next. You would think so, right?”
Following his win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 317, Ilia Topuria faced off with longtime rival Paddy Pimblett inside the Octagon. Arman Tsarukyan, who served as the backup fighter for the event, is also in the conversation as a potential next opponent for "El Matador." While Alexander Volkanovski acknowledges that both Pimblett and Tsarukyan are legitimate contenders, he believes Holloway is the most likely to get the call.
“Obviously, Arman was there. I don't know what's the deal with that. Obviously, Arman Tsarukyan is probably meant to be the guy. Paddy Pimblett. They did the face-off. Yeah, they did the face-off. There's a bit of bad blood. I don't know if that's happening. I don't know if that's locked in. But if it is, all right, so be it. But I mean. With Max…Max's next fight could probably be for the title. I think that would be fair.”
