Max Holloway Out From Alexander Volkanovski Fight Planned For UFC 272

UPDATE (January 7, 2022, 2:36 PM ET): Max Holloway is out from the fight after aggravating a prior injury, ESPN reported.

The trilogy fight UFC fans have been asking for is going to happen.

Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will meet former champ Max Holloway for the third time at UFC 272 in March, UFC president Dana White told ESPN on Wednesday.

According to ESPN, contracts have yet to be signed, but both matches should be finalized soon. Las Vegas is slated to host the pay-per-view event.

Volkanovski (23-1) is the world’s No. 3 pound-for-pound fighter, according to ESPN. He is a two-time reigning champion from Australia. In their first meeting in December 2019, he won the belt by a split decision against Holloway.

In July 2020, he defeated the previous champion for the second time, this time by a narrow unanimous decision.

Volkanovski, 33, only fought once in 2021.

At UFC 266 versus Brian Ortega, he successfully defended his championship in a five-round contest that was named ESPN’s Fight of the Year.

Holloway (23-6) of Waianae, Hawaii, is coming off a successful season as a non-champ.

In January 2021, he demolished 145-pound competitor Calvin Kattar, and in November, he won a dramatic five-round decision against Yair Rodriguez.

Meanwhile, bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling will try to unify his belt against interim champ Petr Yan.

Sterling (20-3) will be defending his title for the first time.

He won the title in disputed circumstances in March, when then-champion Yan was disqualified for throwing an illegal knee in the fourth round of their title bout. The two were supposed to fight again in October, but Sterling had to pull out due to a neck injury.

Yan (16-2) went on to win the interim championship in October by a unanimous decision against Cory Sandhagen. According to ESPN, he is the world’s No. 6 pound-for-pound fighter.