Alexander Volkanovski Reacts To Max Holloway’s UFC 273 Backup Offer: ‘He Was Never Injured’

Alexander Volkanovski

Alexander Volkanovski is suggesting foul play after Max Holloway offered his services as backup for the UFC 273 featherweight title fight between ‘The Great’ and Chan Sung Jung.

Holloway was supposed to face Volkanovski for the third time at UFC 272 on March 5 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. ‘Blessed’ withdrew from the bout just days after it was officially announced due to an undisclosed injury.

Volkanovski saw his title defence pushed back one month due to the withdrawal and ‘The Korean Zombie’ was announced has his next opponent.

Since then, it has been reported that Holloway has been medically cleared to fight and is wanting to play a backup role at UFC 273.

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The featherweight champion took to social media recently to react to Holloway’s rapid recovery, claiming his long-time rival was never actually injured.

@BlessedMMA wants to be the backup fighter for the fight he was originally scheduled to fight,” Volkanovski wrote. “so in other words…he was never injured. Just hoping he doesn’t have to fight me or fight me while I’m preparing for someone…but hey “if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying” … NO”

Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway: The Story So Far…

Holloway and Volkanovski first fought in December 2019 at UFC 245.

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The Aussie fighter scored a significant upset to dethrone Holloway, who was easily outpointed over five rounds. In July 2020, the featherweight duo rematched, and the fight was much closer. ‘Blessed’ was the winner on many people’s scorecards after five rounds but the judges awarded Volkanovski a split decision win.

Since then, Holloway has bounced back with decision wins over Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez. Meanwhile, Volkanovski survived a couple of scares to defend his belt against Brian Ortega.

Do you think we’ll see Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway 3 in 2022?