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Australia's Alex Volkanovski has won the UFC featherweight title with a unanimous points victory over long-standing champion Max Holloway in Las Vegas.
New UFC featherweight world champion Alex Volkanovski says Max Holloway deserves a rematch and he'd love it to be in Australia, following his stunning upset win in Las Vegas.
The 31-year-old from Windang on the NSW south coast vowed to reign the division for a long time after producing a masterclass to topple the Hawaiian fighter.
He became the first Australian-born fighter to win a UFC title, with New Zealand-born Sydney-raised Robert Whittaker previously holding the middleweight title.
Volkanovski joins a select group to have won the featherweight title after Jose Aldo, who he beat in his previous fight, Conor McGregor and Holloway.
It ranks as one of the greatest combat sports performances ever by an Australian, as 28-year-old Holloway was universally regarded as the finest UFC featherweight of all time.
Holloway came into the fight holding a slew of records in the featherweight division, including most wins, most finishes, most knockouts and longest winning streak having racked up 14 straight victories at the weight.
One judge gave every round to Volkanovski, scoring it 50-45 and the other two had the Australian winning 48-47.
The Aussie landed more strikes in each round and was particularly successful with kicks to the Hawaiian's legs.
Volkanovski ,who went the five -round distance for the first time, is 8-0 in UFC contests and extended his MMA winning streak to 18 bouts and overall record to 21-1.
UFC boss Dana White and Volkanovski talked about a possible rematch in Australia, where he hasn't fought since February 2018, with his last four bouts all overseas.
"That market is massive for us so maybe we do that rematch in Australia,' White said.
Melbourne's Marvel Stadium had produced the two biggest crowds in UFC history, both in excess of 55,00.
"It would be great to have a hometown crowd and defend the belt in front of them, and that will be unreal, I think the Aussie fans deserve that," Volkanovski said.
"Of course we're going to look for the money fights if they are there.
"But at the same time I want to give the guys that earn their shot, whoever they think they are, the next in line, bring it on, I'll take them on."
The Australian controlled the distance for much of the bout and also landed several meaty right-hand punches in addition to his relentless kicking assault.
Holloway landed several good punches, but Volkanovski never allowed the Hawaiian to produce the non-stop pressure and high volume flurries that have made him a superstar.
"I'm so composed. I've got the good fight IQ and I got the job done and I'm telling you, I'm going to stay champion for a long time," Volkanovski said.
In his previous fight, Volkanovski outpointed Brazilian Aldo, who was considered the greatest featherweight before Holloway.
"He (Holloway) is one of the GOATs. I've taken out two of the GOATs back-to-back, that puts me right up there," Volkanovski said.
In the other title fights on the UFC 245 card, welterweight champion Kamaru Usman scored a fifth round stoppage of Colby Covington, and female featherweight and bantamweight titleholder Amanda Nunes scored a unanimous points win against Germaine De Randamie in a bantamweight tile defence.
