By the Numbers: Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski

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With an unblemished Octagon record and wins over the likes of Jose Aldo, Chad Mendes and the gutsy Darren Elkins, Alexander Volkanovski looks poised to beat anyone at 145. Current Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight champion Max Holloway, however, is eager to prove that nobody is going to take his belt away from him. The two scrappy featherweights will co-headline UFC 245 in Las Vegas. Gain insights into their title showdown through the numbers below.

Active winning streak

For Volkanovski, the road to contendership involves a seven-fight winning streak in the UFC, which is part of a larger 17-fight winning streak overall. Since entering the Octagon in 2016, the former Australian rugby player has yet to suffer a defeat. Before he was taking out the likes of Aldo, Mendes and Elkins, he also beat Jeremy Kennedy, Shane Young, Mizuto Hirota and Yusuke Kasuya.

Meanwhile, Holloway is looking to build some momentum of his own. Prior to his recent victory over Frankie Edgar, the Hawaiian bowed to Dustin Poirier in his quest for a second UFC title. Before that, Holloway was on an amazing 13-fight undefeated run.

Championship experience

Holloway has been in a title fight seven times in his career. He spent his last six fights under the championship lights, but even before he was signed by the UFC Holloway had already worn gold. In 2011, he beat former Pacific Xtreme Combat lightweight king Harris Sarmiento to take the X-1 lightweight championship.

While Volkanovski will be fighting for a UFC title for the first time, he is no stranger to the pressure of a championship bout. He has been in title fights in different organizations, most notably PXC and Australian Fighting Championship. His last bout just before debuting in the Octagon was a title showdown at an Australian promotion called Wollongong Wars.

Wins by knockout

Of Volkanovski’s 20 career victories, 11 have come via KO or TKO. Most of those knockouts came during his days fighting in regional promotions in Australia while three occurred in the UFC, against Mendes, Kennedy and Kasuya. Holloway, meanwhile, is right on Volkanovski’s heels with 10. The major difference is that most of Holloway’s (T)KO victories occurred in the UFC. He has dropped and stopped Will Chope, Clay Collard and Akira Corassani as well as high-level competitors like Brian Ortega, Anthony Pettis, Charles Oliveira and Jose Aldo twice.

Wins by submission

Both Holloway and Volkanovski are purple belts in jiu-jitsu and have shown some good grappling in the cage. Holloway holds submission wins over Cub Swanson and Andre Fili. Volkanovski, for his part, owns three submission victories, all of which were outside of the UFC.

Career losses

Volkanovski has a single blemish on his record, which came from a TKO loss dealt by fellow countryman Corey Nelson. Holloway, on the other hand, has been defeated four times. He was decisioned by Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor and Dustin Bermudez. His lone submission loss was courtesy of Poirier in their first encounter at UFC 143.