Alexander Volkanovski isn’t ready to write off Max Holloway just yet.
Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) defends his BMF title in a trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 318 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) main event from Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
Holloway is 0-2 against Poirier and coming off the first knockout loss of his career against Ilia Topuria at UFC 308. “Blessed” is 0-3 against UFC featherweight champion Volkanovski, but Volkanovski sees him regaining top form just like he did after their trilogy.
“He’s coming off the first knockout loss ever. Not many people can bounce back from that,” Volkanovski told Fox Sports Australia of Holloway. “A lot of people change after that. But there’s only few that can bounce back in a positive way, and I know he’s one of them.
“I know he’ll be the type of guy to make the right adjustments or come back not only the same guy he was, maybe even look better. You might see Max even better. I think he’s that type of guy that can come back with a bounce back – not only bounce back to where he was, which was already incredible, but bounce back even more than that. If he does that, it just shows you how good that bloke is.”
Despite questions surrounding Holloway’s durability after getting knocked out in his last fight, Volkanovski is picking him to win.
“I’m going to go with Max,” Volkanovski said. “Obviously he’s coming off a KO loss, which is something that’s going to be a big factor. Not many people can bounce back from a KO loss. There’s very few that can, and I think Max is definitely one of them.
“I think you’re maybe going to see the same Max or an even more improved Max now that he’s going to even be that little bit more calculated, because you know he can. You know he’s tough, you know he’s got a lot of skills, but now to have even more of a calculated approach, I think he’s going to be one tough man to beat.”
