Max
Holloway further strengthened his case for a trilogy bout
against reigning featherweight king Alexander
Volkanovski with a memorable performance in the
UFC Fight Night 197 headliner on Saturday night.
Holloway emerged with a hard-fought five-round verdict over the
returning Yair
Rodriguez on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas for his
second consecutive triumph. The Hawaiian standout shook off a
strong start from Rodriguez — including numerous damaging low kicks
— to gradually impose his will through multi-punch combinations,
takedowns and clinch work. Rodriguez gave one final push in the
fifth round, but it wasn’t enough to sway the scorecards in his
favor.
“It’s one of the best fights I’ve ever seen,” UFC president Dana
White said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “The fact
that Yair was off for two years and comes in and puts on a
performance like this, unheard of. It’s incredible.
“Then Max, I didn’t think he was going to make it out of the second
round with the calf kicks, and then he after made it to the next
round, I’m like he’s probably not going to be able to walk out of
the Octagon by himself. He’s walking around back there like nothing
even happened. He said his leg is fine. It’s unbelievable how tough
this guy is.”
Holloway’s 2021 campaign now includes the aforementioned classic
against Rodriguez as well as a striking masterclass in a win over
Calvin
Kattar at the beginning of the year. What it means is that
“Blessed” could be on the verge of securing a third bout against
145-pound champion Alexander
Volkanovski despite being 0-2 against the City Kickboxing
representative. Of course, their last meeting, a split-decision
victory for Volkanovski at UFC 251, was a ruling that many
observers thought could have gone the other way.
“It’s one of those things – it was razor thin, [Holloway] just
comes in and puts on a performance like this,” White said. “This is
just a guy that Volkanovski’s going to have to just get him out of
the way and do it again.”
Holloway’s latest outing also drew the attention of Conor
McGregor, who was caught in a somewhat comical video pacing in
front of the TV during the UFC Fight Night 197 main event. McGregor
defeated Holloway via unanimous decision in 2013 before either man
had reached the peak of his respective powers in the UFC. Holloway
has expressed interest in a rematch against the Irish star, and the
two former foes had a few exchanges on social media recently.
McGregor is still recovering from a broken leg suffered in his
trilogy bout against Dustin
Poirier at UFC 264 this past July.
Conor just staring Holloway down…
#UFCVegas42(via @TheNotoriousMMA)
pic.twitter.com/ezAsrHX8n4— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)
November 14, 2021
White dismissed the notion of Holloway and McGregor crossing paths
again any time soon, but he appears to be far more interested in
seeing “Blessed” and Volkanovski square off for a third time.
“I don’t know what’s next for Max, but it does make sense to see
him and Volkanovski again,” White said. “Conor’s not even
– Conor’s still hurt. To even talk about Conor is silly.”