UFC 245: Best laid plan comes to fruition for Alex Volkanovski

Sunday saw confirmation that Volkanovski, a former Warilla-Lake South Gorilla, will face reigning featherweight champion Max Holloway for the featherweight title at UFC 245 in December.

It's long been Volkanovski's endgame, and he'll have the chance in Las Vegas on the back of a six-year 17-fight win streak - the last seven of them in the UFC.

With the former Michael Cronin Medal winner currently in New Zealand helping City Kickboxing stablemate Brad Riddell prepare for his UFC debut next Sunday, it was Lopez who made the call.

"He didn't actually know because he's in New Zealand so his manager texted me and said 'it's official'," Lopez said.

"I texted him and said congratulations and he rang me straight back and said 'I didn't even know'. His wife had texted him to, she knew before him as well.

"He said 'well here it is, it's what we set out to do'. We're going to bring it back. It's been the goal since day one. Alex said it at his first fight in the UFC and we were pushing it from the beginning.

"I could see that the kid had all the right attributes. He trained hard, he wanted it so bad and he was a great person to top it off. He'll be a worthy champion."

Not that it's ever that simple. Riding the UFC's longest active winning streak, Volkanovski was first expected to face Holloway after defeating Brazilian great Jose Aldo in Rio in May.

It made the 30-year-old the UFC's official number one contender though the company instead chose to schedule a bout between Holloway and veteran former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.

Related content: Home where the heart is for former Group Seven star Alex Volkanovski

Holloway won the July bout in convincing fashion and the company briefly flirted with pairing the two at UFC 243 in Melbourne next month but deemed it too quick a turnaround for the champion.

It made a December date likely and that was confirmed on Sunday with the bout to co-headline a card that will also see superstar two-division champion Amanda Nunes look to defend her bantamweight title against Germaine de Randamie.

Volkanovski made weight and traveled to Canada for the Holloway-Edgar bout, with he and Lopez watching closely as the Hawaiian dominated five rounds.

It leaves him an ominous challenge for the Australian, but Lopez is confident his charge can execute a game plan better than any fighter in the division.

"Max came out a little bit different in that fight against Edgar," Lopez said.

"He used his jab really effectively like he always does but he didn't stand there and just throw his hands like he does with a lot of the other guys because he had to worry about Frankie's take-down.

"He's going to have the same problem with Alex but with his footwork Alex can move so many different ways and he can make it really hard for anyone. He proved that with the Aldo fight.

"We'll put the pressure on him. If Max comes forward Alex isn't going to go back. He might wear one but Max'll wear two or three.

"I'm a Max fan to tell you the truth. You can't not like him and he's got a big following because of it but if he wants to fight that game with Alex he's going to be in a bit of trouble."