If Conor McGregor had intended on getting a rise out of Max Holloway, mission accomplished.
The two UFC divisions Conor McGregor has held belts in have been nearly cleaned out by other fighters. When he relinquished his featherweight title following UFC 205, Max Holloway took over as the top dog by unifying the belt against Jose Aldo.
In his 155 lb debut for the UFC, McGregor became the champion. While his star power thrust himself right into the title frame, Tony Ferguson was racking up the greatest win-streak the division had ever seen, but it took 10-straight victories to finally warrant UFC gold.
This has left the promotion in a weird position. Sitting on the throne is a man who has only won once in the division, while the interim king has dominated the weight class by going undefeated for four years and beating elite opponents like Rafael dos Anjos, Kevin Lee, Edson Barboza, Gleison Tibau and Abel Trujillo.
Dear Lord, yes! https://t.co/EjKTPCB0sl
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 8, 2017
Holloway has gone one better, notching up an insane 11 wins on the trot since losing that unanimous decision to ‘The Notorious’. McGregor praised him for his staggering run recently in Glasgow, but announcing that he had ‘sonned that young boy,’ didn’t go down well with the Hawaiian, as he explained on The MMA Hour.
“People are like, ‘He did compliment you, Max. Why are you saying stuff about him?’ No, he didn’t! He said facts. After we fought, I’m on this winning streak. He was talking facts and at the end, he said he won. It is what it is.”
McGregor reeled off a list of potential opponents at that Scottish Q&A, including a ridiculous MMA fight offer to former world boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi. As Holloway sees it, McGregor is leaning towards the money-making crazy match-ups as opposed to ones that legitimise his belt.
“It’s this little guy trying to bring it up and at the end, he said the fight between me and him is there, but it’s very low on the totem pole and he’s over there talking about Paulie in MMA, the guy should call up CM Punk. At least CM Punk got some time in the UFC ring or whatever. It makes no sense to me. He’s fighting exhibition matches. If you don’t want to be about that champ life, so be it.”
Interesting call https://t.co/G0q5cdCNTC
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 8, 2017
‘Blessed’ also brought up one of the most painful losses of McGregor’s career to prove a point. It’s worth noting that McGregor dropped down a weight class after suffering that unforgettable submission at the hands of compatriot Joseph Duffy.
“Whenever he talks about Joe Duffy now he’s like, ‘That’s when were kids and blah-blah-blah so young and I didn’t know what was going on.’ It’s like, when I fought (you), I’m pretty sure I was a kid and I didn’t know what was going on. I was still growing.”
It’s a fair point. Both McGregor and Holloway have improved exponentially since they fought. Considering how young and injured they were the first time, who wouldn’t want to see them go at it again?
He may not be as far down the totem pole as he might think.
