UFC 273: Alexander Volkanovski wants Max Holloway trilogy fight to 'end that chapter'

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski says he is still interested in a Max Holloway trilogy fight after Chan Sung Jung – as he wants to ‘end that chapter’.

The Australian great defends his belt against ‘Korean Zombie’ in the main event of UFC 273 on April 9 in his first fight since beating Brian Ortega in Las Vegas at UFC 266 last September.

Volkanovski had been forced to look elsewhere for a new opponent after Holloway picked up an injury in training and the UFC 145lbs title fight on March 5 was called off.

And he admits that he was rather ‘disappointed’ he had to pull out and told his rival he wanted to run it back again – despite being 2-0 up in their series.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour on MMA Fighting, Volkanovski said: “I was disappointed,.

“Man, I just was really looking forward to that fight. I really was. And I just had started — I was ready to get into camp and get things going and end that chapter, and all that type of stuff.

“But as everyone says — well, ‘Blessed’ [Holloway] says — it is what it is. But it was unfortunate. Of course it’s a big fight, I know people wanted to see it.

“But what do you do? That’ll just have to wait until later.”

Volkanovski also says he wants to stay active and ‘fight regularly’ this year.

The 33-year-old, a former rugby league player, has fought four times since a May 2019 victory over Jose Aldo.

He added: “I made it clear straight after my fight [in September], I wanted to fight regularly.

“Even fighting in March was later than I would’ve liked, because I wanted to go and get some defenses in.

“I want to fight as much as I can this year. So the boys talked with [the UFC], they chatted to me, and then just [Jung] was the only [option] that made sense.