Alexander Volkanovski still hung in doubts for his controversial wins against Max Holloway

UFC 266 will feature the main event of the two best featherweights in UFC when Alexander “The Great” Volkonavski defends his title against Brian “T-City” Ortega. The fight was built up from the reality TV franchise of “The Ultimate Fighter” where both the fighters were coaching opposite sides. Ortega is coming off as a worthy opponent for the champion as he comes off a spectacular victory of Chan Sung Jung a.k.a. The Korean Zombie.

However, for Volkanovski, things have been left much debatable assessing his last victories. Many believe that Volkanovski still has some business to settle with in order to be the best featherweight in the world, against fellow featherweight contender and preceding UFC champion Max “Blessed” Holloway, that too despite 2 straight victories against the latter. The reason being that both the fights have been one of the closest battles in UFC history.

BREAKDOWN: Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway

The first fight between Volkonavski and Holloway have favored Volkonavski undisputed in judges’ scorecards, critic and public opinions. “The Great” solved the striking puzzle of rhythm that Holloway wants to present to his opponents and instead of going heavy on boxing, Volkanovski went for a balanced Muay Thai fighting style and emphasized much on using leg kicks to break that rhythm.

BREAKDOWN: Volkanovski vs Holloway II

The second fight had a difference of assessment between the judges’ scorecards and the public eye. Officially, Volkonavski won that night but many people saw Holloway as the one who edged him in striking. Holloway went to show dominance in the early three rounds but Volkanovski took the judges’ eyes in favor in the fourth and final rounds and possibly won the fight due to the recency effect.

Whatever concludes at UFC 266 deciding either still a champion in Alexander Volkanovski or a new champion in Brian Ortega, nonetheless MMA fans around the world are waiting for a trilogy between the former against Holloway and hence, irrespective of the champion status, indeed Volkanovski has a great wall to break leading to his greatness.

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