Alexander Volkanovski ready to be late replacement for Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway
Former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will be ready to step in on short notice if anything happens to either Ilia Topuria or Max Holloway.
Topuria is set to make his first defense of his featherweight title when he takes on Holloway, however, the fight has not been made official but both have hinted at it on social media. With Volkanovski not getting the title shot, he says he will be on standby and ready to fill in in case anything happens.
“It’s a situation obviously, again, I’m going to be getting antsy but you know, we’ve got plenty of good content coming. I’m going to, you know, I will stay ready and Ash [manager] ain’t going to like this one. I’ll be training really hard and fight fit cuz if there is a late notice, cuz that s*** excites me man, it gets me going but I’ll actually be ready for it this time. I’ll make sure I’m in good nick all year round because I want, so even me having that in my head that if you have to save the day here or there, it’s going to help in training, keep things exciting,” Volkanovski told TheMacLife (via MMANews).
It would make sense for Volkanovski to serve as a backup fighter for the featherweight title fight as he would likely be next in line to face the winner of Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway.
Alexander Volkanovski doubts UFC forced Holloway to face Topuria
Although the UFC has yet to officially announce the featherweight title fight between Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway, the champ took to social media to claim that the UFC had to force ‘Blessed’ to take the fight.
Topuria had said Holloway was trying to get out of fighting him, but Alexander Volkanovski doubts that was the case at all.
“Let’s be real, you’re not forcing Max to fight,” Volkanovski said to MMAFighting. “I think it’s common knowledge that Max wants to fight him and I think he wanted to fight him sooner rather than later. There’s holdups. I’m pretty sure there’s holdups, and I don’t think it’s on Max-I’m not trying to pick sides, I’m just stating facts. I’ve got nothing against Ilia, but you’re not forcing Max in this one. Let’s be real.”
Luckily, the fight is agreed to as Topuria vs. Holloway is one of the more highly-anticipated bouts to make this year.
