UFC featherweight champ Alex Volkanovski has revealed he is back in fight camp, amid reports that a trilogy with Max Holloway is set to be announced for July. It marks a quick turnaround for “The Great” (24-1), who made a third successful defence of his title with a fourth-round TKO of “The Korean Zombie” Jung Chan-sung at UFC 273 last month in Jacksonville, Florida. But it should come as no surprise, with Volkanovski’s strength and conditioning coach Andrew Wood lauding the Australian fighter’s “insane work ethic” this week. There has been no let-up recently for Volkanovski, who embarked on a victory tour in New York before heading to his team’s new Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA gym in Phuket, where he gave a seminar and stayed sharp with training, while enjoying a quick holiday with his family. Now the 33-year-old is already back in Australia, beginning his preparations for what could be a career-defining fight with former champ Holloway (23-6), whom he took the title from in 2019 before defending it again in a razor-close split decision. “Can we give it up for Volk?” tweeted MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, who first reported the news of the match-up with Holloway. “That’s quite the fast turnaround against the toughest foe out there at 145 [pounds]. Massive respect.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Alexander Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) But Volkanovski told the Post recently he is always staying ready. “Even before the seminar, I was doing some wrestling here with Frank [Hickman, his coach],” he said. “So even when I’m having a couple of drinks, it’s still training. I’m enjoying myself, but I’m making sure I’m still fit. Once I get home, I’m back into it.” Now the time has come again, and coach Wood – who starred on The Ultimate Fighter season 29 as part of the Australian’s team – insisted Volkanovski’s dedication in training is second to none. “Volk is a freak – his work ethic is insane,” Wood told the Post at Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA this week. “He’ll listen and he’ll do what you say, and do it to the best of his ability. ‘Training in paradise’: Bangtao MMA gym changing the game in Phuket “He’s so consistent, that’s the important thing. Consistent with his diet, consistent with his training, consistent with his mental prep. That’s why he’s world champion, and that’s why for me he’s the greatest of all time at that weight.” Volkanovski is undefeated in his last 20 fights, with 11 straight wins since debuting in the UFC Octagon – a run that has seen him rise to No 2 in the promotion’s pound-for-pound rankings. “All the way up through his PXC days, and when he was at Tiger Muay Thai [in Chalong, Phuket], I was coaching him there,” Wood said. “When he comes over, it’s quite early in his camp, so we build the fundamentals again. We build strength, and when he leaves he goes to his other guys and they’ll do more power work and conditioning, and away he goes.” Wood was in Las Vegas for 7 weeks filming The Ultimate Fighter , ahead of Volkanovski’s successful title defence against Brian Ortega last September. “It was quite intense filming – training twice a day, we had fights every week,” Wood said. “It was awesome, it was a really good experience. “I was very blessed that Volko brought me over, me and Frank. We had a great time. It was good to have the crew together again. Covid had hit. Nobody could really travel too much. When we got over to Vegas it was nice to see everyone, and have that real bond again.” While Hickman stayed in the US to help prepare Volkanovski and corner him for his win over Jung, Wood headed back to Phuket to help the team set up their new gym . “I had a couple of opportunities to stay out there, but I knew I had to come back here and help out with setting this place up,” he said. “For Frank, it was probably best he was there and doing the coaching, helping to create that brand awareness and telling everyone about the gym and what we were doing. “And cornering Volk, Izzy [Israel Adesanya, UFC middleweight champion], Brad [Riddell, UFC lightweight], that’s worth its weight in gold. They’re all part of our team away from home. But I came back here, and business is good.” Wood now heads up daily fitness and strength and conditioning classes at Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA, where regular gym goers can often find themselves working out alongside combat sports superstars like former UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Andrew Wood - S&C Coach (@woody_vva) “That’s the thing we want, our own culture – that you can be training next to a world champion,” Wood says. “That spurs people on, whether they’re just into fitness or martial arts. “It’s taken us all a long time to get to this position. There’s been times we’ve worked for free. We’ve built our names and we’re now recouping some of that with the guys that are coming down.” Chinese icon Zhang is doing her fight camp in Bangtao ahead of her rematch with Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 275 in Singapore next month, and Wood has been impressed with what he’s seen. “They did mention to me we’ll start a bit of work,” he said of Zhang and her team. “I never approach an athlete, but if an athlete wants to work with me I’ll do it, for sure. If they come to me and say ‘let’s go’, I’ll put her through her paces, for sure.”