Alexander Volkanovski admits it ‘was pretty silly’ to accuse Max Holloway of faking injury

Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway were seemingly made to fight each other. With 10 rounds already in the books, they’ll need to keep waiting for the next five.

Volkanovski will defend his Featherweight crown against “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung at UFC 273 on April 9, 2022, in what was originally set to be the Holloway trilogy. Unfortunately for the proud Hawaiian, Holloway suffered an injury that forced him out of the bout.

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MASSIVE MIDDLEWEIGHT MATCH! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) makes its highly anticipated return to Sydney, Australia, for the first time in five years on Sat., Sept. 9, 2023, with a 185-pound world title fight inside Qudos Bank Arena. In the ESPN+-streamed pay-per-view (PPV) main event, Middleweight roost-ruler, Israel Adesanya, plans to silence No. 5-seeded contender, Sean Strickland. In UFC 293’s hard-hitting Heavyweight co-main event, No-6-ranked fan favorite, Tai Tuivasa, locks horns with towering Russian, Alexander Volkov (No. 8).

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What made things odd, and frustrating for Volkanovski, was that Holloway wound up healing in time to still make the scheduled fight date. Therefore, the champion’s initial reaction was that his rival had faked his misfortune.

“It was frustrating because at the time I really wanted that fight, you know what I mean, and once you heard he got injured, especially when they announced it earlier, it was all a bit confusing and frustrating,” Volkanovski told Submission Radio (h/t MMA Junkie).

“So you seen my frustration obviously. I wanted to tweet and have a little shot at Max and his fans, and that was the only reason, which was pretty silly on my behalf, to be honest. That just shows you where sort of my head was at back then, you know what I mean? That’s something that I’ve really been working on lately.”

Volkanovski has defended his title once since rematching Holloway in July 2020 when he earned a split decision victory (watch highlights). In the Australian’s last time out, he settled a feud with Brian Ortega that extended over the course of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 29. Ultimately, Volkanovski got the better of “T-City” in their five-round affair to earn a unanimous decision (watch highlights) that had fans picking sides throughout the build.

“I’m such a people pleaser, right? I always want people on my side and when they’re not, I take whatever they say to heart and all that type of stuff,” Volkanovski said. “So, I’ve always cared what haters said and like what all these people would say. So I always felt like I had something to prove and wanted to get back at him, but now I literally don’t give a F about any of that.”