You will have to wait a little bit longer to see Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski go at it again.
Just days after the second rematch was confirmed between 145-pound champ Volkanovski and the man who held the title before him, the Hawaiian has pulled out of the fight amid reports that he has suffered an aggravation of a prior injury. News of this was first reported by ESPN.
The bout was set to headline the UFC 272 event in March in Las Vegas and it is now likely that the card’s other title fight between bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan will move to main event status. News of the Holloway’s injury or the potential new main event has not yet been confirmed by the UFC.
Volkanovski owns two wins over Holloway, first defeating him by decision to claim the world title in December 2019 and again beating him the following July — this time in a split decision.
Since then Holloway has carved out impressive wins against Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez. Volkanovski, meanwhile, remains undefeated since 2013 and was last seen in the cage defeating Brian Ortega this past September.