— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA)
May 5, 2022
The only trilogy in Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight
history is set to conclude this July.
On Wednesday night, Ariel
Helwani brought word that the promotion was aiming to put
together Alexander
Volkanovski (24-1) vs. Max
Holloway (23-6) part three in July. Helwani’s dates included
July 2 or July 30, and on Thursday,
MMA Junkie broke that
UFC 276 on July 2 would play host to the much-anticipated
matchup. Both Holloway
and Volkanovski
have confirmed that the contracts have been signed and the fight is
on.
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Volkanovski, who is up two wins to zero against Holloway in their
series thus far, has prevailed in his last 21 appearances. “The
Great” first claimed the strap from Holloway in 2019, defended it
against Holloway in an automatic rematch in 2022, and has
subsequently staved off a pair of challengers. In 2021, Volkanovski
outworked Brian
Ortega to take home a decision, while he battered Chan Sung
Jung in April to knock out “The Korean Zombie” early into the
fourth frame. The only person to come close to overcoming the
Aussie in his miraculous run is Holloway, who took the City
Kickboxing staple to a split decision in their first fight and had
a majority of media members score it for Holloway in the
rematch.
At 145 pounds, the only man to top Holloway dating back to 2013 is
Volkanovski. On his run towards greatness, “Blessed” racked up 13
straight wins in his division, where he claimed the interim strap
against Anthony
Pettis and then busted up Jose Aldo
twice to unify and defend it. Like his upcoming opponent, the
Hawaiian registered a pair of victorious defenses against Ortega
and Frankie
Edgar. Since his two losses to the Australian champ, Holloway
registered a record-shattering performance against Calvin
Kattar at the beginning of 2021, and came back in November to
beat Yair
Rodriguez across five thrilling rounds.
UFC 276 will go down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to conclude
the organization’s yearly International Fight Week festival. It is
currently unclear if Volkanovski-Holloway 3 will serve as its
headliner, as an oft-discussed interim heavyweight title clash
between Stipe
Miocic and Jon Jones is
rumored to come at this fight card. Other key matchups on the
billing include a rescheduled middleweight pairing between Sean
Strickland and Alex
Pereira, as well as a women’s flyweight clash pitting Miesha Tate
against Lauren
Murphy.