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Just days after signing for a third fight with featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 272, former champion Max Holloway has been forced to withdraw from the bout. According to a report by ESPN, Holloway re-aggravated a prior injury.
Volkanovski (23-1) defeated Holloway at UFC 245 in December 2019 to win the championship. The pair then rematched at UFC 251 the following July, with Volkanovski winning a controversial split decision to retain the title. The losses marked the first time since 2013 that Holloway (23-6) had tasted defeat in consecutive bouts.
Holloway got his career trending in the right direction in January, dominating Calvin Kattar in a fight that saw Holloway set a record for most strikes landed (447) in a single UFC fight. He followed that victory up with a thrilling November decision victory over Yair Rodriguez.
In September, Volkanovski successfully defended his championship with a unanimous decision win over Brian Ortega, a fight that was the runner-up in the CBS Sports UFC Fight of the Year vote.
According to the ESPN report, there is no timetable for Holloway’s return, nor has any decision been made on Volkanovski’s status for UFC 272, which takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on March 5.