Dana White Reveals If Max Holloway vs. Alex Volkanovski Happens At UFC 243

UFC 243 will arguably be the biggest show in the Oceanic region.

In the main event, New Zealand-born Australian champion, Robert Whittaker, takes on the interim champ from New Zealand, Israel Adesanya. The only way it could be bigger was to have Max Holloway defend his featherweight belt against Australian Alex Volkanovski.

Yet, for Australian fans, that won’t happen according to UFC president Dana White. He cites Holloway’s quick turnaround and having to do another weight cut so quickly again.

“Yeah, no, that’s not happening,” White told Submission Radio when asked if Holloway vs. Volkanovski would happen UFC 243. “I don’t think that Max could turn around and cut the weight again that fast. So, I don’t want to put him in that type of situation.”

Ultimately, it always seemed unlikely given the fact Holloway had just fought in late July and the cut to 145 pounds is not an easy one. He didn’t take much damage in the fight which left some hope. But, even Holloway himself after the fight wasn’t sure that would be possible as he wanted to check with doctors.

“We’ll see what happens,” Holloway said at the post-fight press conference about potentially returning at UFC 243. “I look fine, I look great but I’ll wait till my team, I’ll wait till my coaches.

“We’ve got to get medical testing. I’ve fought three title fights in seven months. I want to fight one more time this year but we’ve got to go take all the right tests and see and we’ll go from there.”

There is no question this is the fight to make, so it should be expected it will happen late 2019 or early 2020. Volkanovski is the clear number one contender for Holloway, but it is a letdown for the Aussie fans that it won’t happen at UFC 243.

Are you surprised Max Holloway vs. Alex Volkanovski won’t happen at UFC 243?