Back to the MMA Newsfeed

Volkanovski postpones title defense due to COVID-19: Even if UFC 251 happens, it’s not ‘a good idea for me’

It was looking likely that Alex Volkanovski (21-1) was going to defend his title in a rematch against Max Holloway (21-5) at UFC 251 in Perth. Although contracts weren’t signed for the fight, any chance of Volkanovski now defending his title on June 6th is now off the table.

Volkanovski won the title against Holloway by decision back at UFC 245 in December of last year.

With coronavirus causing travel problems around the world, Volkanovski spoke to ESPN about the struggles of returning to Australia after being in the U.S.A.

“We’d [Volkanovski and coach Joe Lopez] come from America, and even though the [self-quarantine] rule wasn’t in yet, we decided to not train with others; so we just trained with each other, we just hit pads and were doing whatever we could.