Alexander Volkanovski suggests Jose Aldo was a tougher matchup than Max Holloway

This Saturday, at UFC 245, Alexander Volkanovski will face a huge test in the form of Max Holloway. Volkanovski, the No. 1 ranked featherweight, will fight “Blessed” for the UFC featherweight title.

Holloway has a plethora of accolades, including wins over Frankie Edgar, Jose Aldo and Anthony Pettis. Volkanovski acknowledges the difficult task at hand, but he believes he can overcome any challenge that Holloway presents.

“I’ve always been confident,” Volkanovski said (via MMA Junkie).

“But them last couple of fights really did boost my confidence even more… To completely change my type of style just to adapt to a fighter (against) one of the greatest of all time. I was able to do that and get it done. That just really proved to me that we’re on another level.”

The 31-year old is riding an impressive 17-fight win streak and hasn’t lost since 2013. Volkanovski acknowledges the skillset of Holloway but doesn’t believe it will compare to the stylistic challenge he faced in his last fight against Jose Aldo at UFC 239. He ultimately beat the MMA legend by unanimous decision after three rounds.

“That just made me be like, ‘Man.’ I reckon stylistically, usually you would say that was a harder fight for me than even Max, when you look stylistically. But I mean, Max is a great champion.”

“Obviously with my last one, I had to play it a little more safe and I had to work around things,” Volkanovski added. “With this fight, I don’t. He’s going to put himself in positions where he needs to try and break me, right? He needs to work his game. He’s going to try to land is jabs on the outside. He might do what he did with Frankie, but I’m not going to be so easy.”

Holloway has won fourteen of his last fifteen fights. His lone loss in that stretch came at the hands of the former lightweight interim champion, Dustin Poirier.

Alexander Volkanovski predicted what you will see from both of them during this anticipated matchup at UFC 245.

“We’re both going to try to break each other’s rhythm, but at the same time we’re both not going to let each other take a backwards step,” he said. “If we’re going backward, we’re doing it on purpose… Mate, you’re going to see fireworks. Again, he’s going to put himself in positions where he thinks he can maybe get a hand ahead, but he’s going to run into a brick wall.”

The UFC 245 main card airs on pay-per-view this Saturday. Do you think Alexander Volkanovski will claim the featherweight title on the card?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 12/13/2019.