The UFC featherweight champ is in support of open scoring.

Alexander Volkanovski is no stranger to competing in a closely fought battle. In his near-perfect 25-fight career, there’s only been one that stands out and it was his last encounter with former titlist, Max Holloway, in July 2020. “The Great” defeated “Blessed” via a split decision nod that many in the community believed should have gone to Holloway.

There have been plenty of questionable decisions since then and the discussion surrounding open scoring has amplified intensely in recent months, mostly following Holly Holm’s loss to Ketlen Vieira in the UFC Vegas 55 main event last month. Ahead of Volkanovski’s trilogy bout with Holloway this Saturday night at UFC 276, he expressed his thoughts on the concept.

“I don’t mind the open scoring thing,” Volkanovski told FREESTYLEBENDER. “I don’t think it’s that bad because … you wanna know if you’re up or if you’re not or something like that.

“You should have a good enough corner to know that if you ain’t definitely taking the round, don’t sit there thinking, ‘Ah, we’re two up,’ you gotta have the right corner. I’m lucky enough to have a corner that even if we’re pretty comfortable we’re up, if there’s rounds that are still competitive, we’re still like, ‘We want these last rounds.’”

Volkanovski and Holloway have each secured two tremendous victories since last facing each other. The four combined fights weren’t nearly as competitive as the pair’s rematch and that alone has the start of the upcoming 11th round leaving MMA fans’ mouths salivating.

Unfortunately, as great and proven as Volkanovski has become in between these Holloway bouts, the Australian likely still needs a clear victory to keep the community off his back and avoid a reaction similar to the one he received after the rematch.

“To have that open scoring, to let everyone know, then you ain’t gonna have people crying about decisions and all that,” Volkanovski said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, you knew you were behind and you couldn’t do nothing about it.’ Because I’m sick of people using it as excuses. At the end of the day, open scoring will help with that but it shouldn’t have to because you should have a good enough team and corner behind you that ain’t gonna put you in that position anyway.”

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LISTEN UP

Fighter vs. Writer. MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin chats with Jim Miller and Josh Emmett.

Heck of a Morning. MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck discusses UFC 276 fight week and what’s next for Shavkat Rakhmonov.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Ribas keeping it real.

Taking a break.

AGAIN.

Here we are.

Champ.

Respect.

Shouts…

Beef boys.

Teams.

Silly sausage.

Mean.

HBD, Rena!

Fam on the mats.

That new-new.

War.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Jared Vanderaa (12-8) vs. Chase Sherman (15-10); UFC Vegas 58, July 9

Lorenz Larkin (24-7) vs. Mukhamed Berkhamov (15-1); Bellator 283, July 22

Davion Franklin (5-0) vs. Marcelo Golm (9-3); Bellator 283, July 22

Viktor Nemkov (31-8-1) vs. Jose Augusto (7-4); Bellator 283, July 22

Veta Arteaga (6-4) vs. Vanessa Porto (23-9); Bellator 283, July 22

Jaylon Bates (5-0) vs. Mark Coates (10-7); Bellator 283, July 22

Roman Faraldo (7-0) vs. Luis Iniguez (5-1); Bellator 283, July 22

Vladimir Tokov (6-1) vs. Justin Montalvo (5-0); Bellator 283, July 22

Ethan Hughes (3-0) vs. Kevin Hand (2-0); Bellator 283, July 22

Kai Kamaka III (9-5-1) vs. Akhmed Magomedov (8-0); Bellator 283, July 22

Matt Semelsberger (10-3) vs. Alex Morono (21-7); UFC 277, July 30

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FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m honestly shocked that a promotion like the PFL has yet to use open scoring. That seems completely up their alley with trying to do all these “never done before” types of innovations that they like to boast about. Hey, maybe next year? Thanks for reading!

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EXIT POLL

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