Holloway: If McGregor rematch doesn’t happen, it’s on him
In an interview with Helwani, Holloway says if a rematch against McGregor fails to materialize, the he blame should not be pinned on him.
When a bully pulls your hair, you punch him in the face. You know, it’s funny. The guy’s funny, I couldn’t help but laugh. I’m on his mind apparently…I’m trying to think of our division and respect all the other fighters…It took me 10 fights to get the damn interim title shot and then 11 to get an undisputed shot. It’s my duty to make sure everything runs smoothly. I gotta respect our sport, my division and the guys that are fighting in it. That’s what I gotta do. At the end of the day, this guy is gonna keep yapping…
Tell [McGregor] I’ll be waiting. If that fight doesn’t happen it’s not on our side, it’s on his. Right now, I’m focused on champ life. When the exhibition fights come up and I have choices to make I can start calling out boxing guys and tell them, ‘come over to MMA, big shot.’ We’ll see what happens, but it’s just funny, you know? It’s funny. I’m quite surprised because every time they talk about this guy’s UFC career, one name doesn’t come up and that’s Max Holloway. It’s me. For him to bring me up is actually funny. It’s surprising, it’s hilarious and we’ll see what happens. He’s still retired in my eyes. When he comes back and wants to fight a real MMA fighter let me know.
Helwani: Neither McGregor or Mayweather have boxing licence
Helwani tweets that McGregor’s Nevada boxing licence has not been approved yet, and that Mayweather has still to apply for his.
Mayweather, on the other hand, has yet to apply for his license. Also, the NAC tells me neither promoter has asked to secure a date. Yet.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 24, 2017
Helwani: McGregor planned to meet Mayweather in Vegas
Helwani confirms that McGregor’s plan was to go to Vegas to meet with the Nevada Athletic Commission, then The Money Team (Mayweather’s promotion), and then with the UFC.
McGregor's plan has been: meet with NAC to clear issue, then TMT, then UFC. That's what's going on now. Early stages of that plan.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 14, 2017
He laid out this exact plan when we spoke in Manchester. Go to Vegas to meet. Felt best to go in person. So now here we are. https://t.co/Lq0UdifMHd
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 14, 2017
Helwani: Mayweather-McGregor ‘not just a PR stunt any more’
Helwani says that Mayweather-McGregor is moving into an “exploratory phase”.
Mayweather-McGregor has gone from pipe dream phase to exploratory phase. MANY, MANY hurdles to overcome, but not just a PR stunt anymore.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 13, 2017
Kavanagh accepts Coach of Year award, falls off hoverboard
Kavanagh thanks The MMA Hour and Helwani for awarding him the Coach of the Year in a Twitter video that goes awry at the end, as he falls off a Hoverboard.
Thank you so much for this great honour. I know the competition was tough after such a big year in MMA. I want you to know that winning these awards hasn’t changed anything for us — we’re still just a small humble team from Ireland.
The ending wasn't quite as smooth… #TheMMAHour awards pic.twitter.com/zb5DKIcsgP
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) January 2, 2017
Aldo: McGregor is ‘two faced’, ‘a clown’
In an interview with Helwani, Aldo talks about McGregor’s claim to be the real featherweight champ.
First of all, I never stopped being the champion. When I lost to Conor, he should have rematched me right away. Like I’ve always said and done, the champion is the guy who defends the belt against all challengers. Guys who run from title defenses are not champions. All Conor did was he beat the champion. But he never did what he had to do to become the champion. He’s never been the champion of the featherweight division…He’s two-faced. He says a lot of stuff to the press, but behind-the-scenes, he turns down fights left and right. He picks opponents, he picks events. He’s not willing to face challengers the way a champion should be ready to face challengers. That’s not a true champion. He spent a year without defending the belt, so his math doesn’t add up when he says, I was the champion for less than 12 months. He wasn’t the champion at all. He never defended the belt. He wanted to stall an entire division. That’s not being a champion. I’ve never seen Conor as the featherweight champion. He’s not the champion now. I’ve never stopped being the featherweight champion. I went to bed one night believing the UFC was going to announce my rematch with Conor McGregor and I woke up to read the news that they booked Eddie Alvarez instead. My conversations with the UFC were, ‘It’s happening. We’re booking it.’ And then literally overnight something changed without my participation. The bottom line is, Conor doesn’t want to fight me. There’s nothing else I can do. I don’t think there’s anything else the UFC can do. If he keeps saying no and keeps running away, he’s going to keep running away. He’s a clown.
Helwani: The UFC ‘epically botched’ McGregor’s belt drop
On The MMA Hour Helwani criticises the UFC’s handling of the removal of McGregor’s belt.
They botched it. They botched it epically. They botched it because if you’re going to go ahead and strip Conor, then Holloway /Pettis needs to be for the real belt, and you say to Jose Aldo that you’re getting the first crack at the champion of this interim title, you’ve been talking about retirement, you’ve been talking about not fighting again, you’ve been talking about throwing fights, we don’t know the state of your career is, so we’re making Holloway/Pettis the real championship fight, because we just stripped the biggest draw and the biggest star of his belt. It’s a disservice to Holloway and Pettis, who are going to have an amazing fight in a couple of weeks, it’s a disservice to Jose Aldo, and it’s a disservice to Conor McGregor.
MMA Live interview
Kavanagh appears on MMA Live with Helwani to talk about UFC 205. On McGregor’s baby announcement.
People always roll their eyes when I say this, but Conor is an extremely private person. Of course he has the promotion side of fights. But [try to] find pictures of him when there’s no fights going on. He doesn’t really go out. He doesn’t have a massive friend circle. Most of the time it’s just him and Dee together.
Alvarez: Asking for too much money story ‘a lie’
Alvarez says he did not ask for too much money in negotiations with McGregor.
this is a lie , please don't report llies , You guys are awesome , keep it Real! Thank you #ufc205 #phillyfighter #
— Eddie Alvarez (@Ealvarezfight) September 22, 2016
Adding to the reports, MMAFighting’s Helwani says that Alvarez did not even receive an offer to fight McGregor
Reports that Alvarez asked for more money to fight McGregor, thus ruining the deal, are not true, per sources. He has yet to be offered it.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 23, 2016
MMA Hour interview
Helwani interviews McGregor for the first time on The MMA hour. He talks about his mental attitude:
I am an Irish legend. I’m a living legend. I see myself as the champ already…I saw myself as the champ from day one. Before I even started training I always saw myself as the champ. That’s how I see myself. I see myself already there. I visualised this conversation. I visualised this conversation. I’ve visualised the walk out. I have shots picked out that I’m gonna throw in five weeks. You see it in your head, you’re gonna see it when you arrive.
