Max Holloway could have stayed quiet on this one. He’s the former featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski is his longtime rival, and nobody would blame him for shrugging when asked about UFC 333. Instead he stood up for Volk and scolded everybody who’s been quietly drifting toward Movsar Evloev.
In a clip from BlessedMMA that Championship Rounds posted on X, Holloway picked Volkanovski to retain his title by decision. Then he went after the main argument for the challenger.
“A lot of people keep talking about Movsar’s wrestling. He fought Islam twice... Alexander Volkanovski is just a different animal,” Holloway said.
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He wasn’t done. “I really think people are sleeping on Alex. Alex is just so smart. I’m going Volk here with a decision. I think the world is gonna see. You guys gotta put a little more respect on Volkanovski’s name.”
I’m with Max, and it’s mostly because of that Islam line.
The Islam Argument Holds Up
The case for Evloev pretty much starts and ends with wrestling. That’s what people bring up, and Holloway knows it, which is why he went straight at it. His point is simple. Volkanovski has shared the cage with Islam Makhachev twice. Whatever Evloev plans to do on the mat, Volk has already met the most feared version of it at the highest level, two separate times.
That matters in a way that’s hard to measure but easy to feel. Fighters talk about the shock of a grappler’s pressure the first time they meet it, when every scramble feels like quicksand and the clock seems to stop. Volkanovski is past that. He has the memory of those Islam fights, and Holloway is betting he’s built his whole game plan on it. When Max says “Alex is just so smart,” he means a guy who has done the homework so many times he could teach the class.
The decision pick is the part I respect most. Holloway didn’t puff his chest and promise a highlight. He’s predicting a 25-minute grind where the champion keeps it standing, wins the exchanges, and stays off his back long enough for the judges to see it his way. That’s a real forecast from someone who has spent a lot of rounds across from Volk. It sounds a lot more honest than a hype pick.
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The Weigh-Ins Were Boring, and That’s Good
Both men made weight without any drama. Volkanovski hit 144.5 pounds and Evloev came in at 145, which made the main event official. Nobody needed a towel, a second trip to the scale, or a sad statement on social media. For a featherweight title fight, a clean weigh-in counts as a small win for everyone who bought a ticket.
Press Week Told Its Own Story
Vibes don’t throw punches, but this week was too fun to skip.
Volkanovski showed up to the UFC 333 press conference dressed as Joe, his character from the Street Fighter movie. That’s a defending champion relaxed enough to do a bit at his own presser. Those are the guys I want headlining. When the champ is cosplaying a video game movie role days before a title defense, he isn’t feeling the pressure people want to put on him.
Evloev’s week was a different flavor. He admitted, via Adam Zubayraev, that he set a condition for Nina Drama’s interview on purpose, hoping she’d turn it down so he wouldn’t have to do it. He said he told her he’d only sit down if she wore a hijab. Then she agreed.
“Honestly, I couldn’t have cared less about that interview,” Evloev said. “She agreed, so then I had to sit there and do the interview.”
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I’ll give him this. That’s the funniest backfire of fight week, and I respect a man who tells the truth about trying to dodge media day. He also got asked which UFC fighter he would least want to be stranded on an island with, and he picked Alexa Grasso, which is a choice I’m still trying to figure out.
None of that means Evloev loses. A guy who hates interviews can still be miserable to fight. It does fit the picture, though. One man spent the week clearly loving the spotlight, and the other spent it plotting his way out of a microphone.
Volk by Decision
Holloway knows Volkanovski as well as anyone alive, and he isn’t the type to hand out compliments to a rival for free. When that guy tells you the champ is “a different animal” and that you’re sleeping on him, you should probably wake up.
I’m taking Volkanovski on the cards. If it goes the distance and Volk’s hand gets raised, Max has earned the right to post “told you” on every platform he owns.
