Holloway: McGregor couldn’t finish me in a thousand years
Holloway, who took McGregor to the distance in his second UFC fight, says ‘the real fans’ say he’s the real fight to make against McGregor.
Conor McGregor couldn’t finish me in a thousand years..and the hard core fans of the sport they know what the real fight is for Conor. It’s me, but first things first. He’s going to become a dad, so congrats for that. I got some business on December 10, with Anthony Pettis. I got to get through that guy first.
Holloway: McGregor is ‘special’
Despite his loss to McGregor in 2013, Holloway says he bears no grudge against the Irishman.
Everybody hates on this guy. For what? If you had this opportunity, you know damn straight that you’d take it. If I had the opportunity, yes, it’s history. I want to break history. Conor McGregor set this bar and I’m trying to break it. If you’re not trying to break it, then why are you in the game?…Conor’s special, you can’t hate on the guy. If everyone could do it, then everyone would be doing it. It took him, you don’t understand, you have to find your niche. I’m finding mine. I’m me. I have to be the real Max Holloway, this is the real guy sitting right in front of you guys. Real, honest, what you see is what you get. If you like it great, if you don’t like it, great, at the end of the day you buy the pay-per-view and I’m getting money and that’s it, thank you.
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.
McGregor to be stripped of featherweight title
Helwani reports that the UFC wants Pettis to fight Holloway for the interim 145 pound title in December in Toronto. This would be the main card fight after the Daniel Cornier-Anthony Johnson fight was cancelled due to injury. This means that the organisation will strip McGregor of his featherweight belt, reinstating it to Jose Aldo.
As of now, plan is Anthony Pettis vs. Max Holloway for the interim 145 lbs. title happening 12/10 in Toronto. That's what the UFC wants.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 26, 2016
That's per multiple sources. Should they finalize it, & it's close, Jose Aldo would become the new 145 lbs champ. McGregor? That's, well…
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 26, 2016
UFC has been pushing to strip McGregor of the 145 title for some time. Legally, they can. Would be interesting to see how he responds.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 26, 2016