Max Holloway would ‘love’ Conor McGregor rematch, but no contract offer yet
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Max Holloway (red gloves) fights Charles Oliveira (blue gloves) during UFC 326 at T-Mobile Arena.
PHOTO: IMAGN IMAGES
NEW YORK – Max Holloway is working out in preparation for a fight that might never occur, but as he sees it, there is really no other choice.
“I mean, it’s just, it sucks,” he said in an interview with Paramount Plus. “I would just like to get one back.”
The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight champion is in a training camp for a potential rematch with double title winner Conor McGregor in Las Vegas this July at UFC 329, but without a signed contract in hand.
The uncertainty is due in part to questions over when or if McGregor wants to step back into the Octagon, especially considering the Irishman has not fought since July 2021.
McGregor was rumoured to be on the card scheduled for the White House this summer, but his purported opponent, Michael Chandler, will instead face Mauricio Ruffy.
Still, Holloway is expressing unfailing interest in trying to secure a deal to face off against McGregor again. The two squared off in 2013 and McGregor won by unanimous decision, although McGregor left the match with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
“My headspace is good, it’s straight,” Holloway said. “I kinda know when I fight. We kinda know where we want to fight, why we want to fight, so just getting in the gym, getting there, getting it done.
“It’s a huge fight. Anything with Conor McGregor is huge, but having history with the dude, being able to get one back would be cool.”
Holloway is eager to erase the poor impression left by a one-sided loss to Charles Oliveira last time out, a March 7 unanimous-decision defeat that cost him the symbolic BMF title that rests with the UFC’s “baddest” competitor.
“You’re only as good as your last fight, they say, and we’re going to get everybody forgetting about that last fight as soon as possible,” he added.
For McGregor, the biggest draw in the sport and the first athlete in the sport to hold two weight class titles simultaneously (featherweight and lightweight), it would mark a return from a devastating broken tibia and ensuing drug suspension that have sidelined “The Notorious” for the better part of five years.
Holloway, a 34-year-old Honolulu native, is viewed as a heavy favourite over McGregor, 37, due to the latter’s long layoff.
“I mean, we have history,” Holloway said. “We fought a very long time ago. I told you guys, if somebody’s got one over me, I want to get him back. I’d love to get him back.” REUTERS
