UFC 245 fight card, rumors: Max Holloway to defend featherweight title vs. Alexander Volkanovski

A major featherweight title bout has been added to the final UFC pay-per-view of the year

Max Holloway's returning to the "ninth" island. The UFC featherweight champion is set to put his 145-pound strap on the line on Dec. 14 against top contender Alexander Volkanovski from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Multiple outlets reported the news Saturday evening before Volkanovski seemed to confirm the news on his Twitter.

Ready to show everybody who the best FW in the world is! #UFC245

— Alex Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) September 21, 2019

Holloway (21-4) has dominated the featherweight ranks, capturing the interim featherweight crown in December 2016 before unifying the belt with a TKO victory over Jose Aldo in June 2017. He has successfully defended the belt four times, most recently outpointing Frankie Edgar at July's UFC 240.

Mixed in with the success at featherweight was a single stumble when Holloway attempted to jump to lightweight and capture the interim championship at 155 pounds in April. Instead, Holloway was roundly defeated by Dustin Poirier when it appeared the featherweight king's power failed to carry up in weight.

Volkanovski (20-1) worked his way up to the No. 2 spot in the CBS Sports divisional rankings on the strength of a dominant May decision over Aldo. That win was win number 17 in a row for the Australian. Seven of those victories have come in the UFC Octagon.

The featherweight title fight joins the women's bantamweight title fight between Amanda Nunes vs. Germaine De Randamie at the top end of the UFC 245 card.

Can't get enough UFC? Subscribe to our podcast State of Combat with Brian Campbell where we break down everything you need to know in the Octagon.