UFC News: Max Holloway not interested in fighting "unfocused" Conor McGregor
Now that Conor McGregor is inactive again, there are a whole bunch of big names who are willing to step up and fight him. When brought up, Conor McGregor expressed interest in a rematch against Max Holloway.
The last time they fought was over 6 years ago and Holloway was still an inexperienced 21-year old. He has improved leaps and bounds since then and is now the reigning Featherweight King with three title defenses to his name and one of the rising pound-for-pound stars in the MMA World.
Holloway, when asked about a rematch against Conor McGregor, brushed it away, revealing that he is only interested in fighting the "2015-16" McGregor who was focused and in his prime. He broke it down in detail on Ariel Helwani's show on ESPN.
You can watch the clip from the timestamp (13:06) below:
"He doesn't seem healthy, he doesn't sound right"
Ariel Helwani interviewed the Featherweight King Max Holloway ahead of his UFC 245 clash against Alexander Volkanovski. After asking about the prospective match-up with the Australian and also about UFC Hawaii, Helwani asked Holloway about McGregor, playing a clip from his last interview with the Irishman, who spoke about the Hawaiian.
When asked for a response, Holloway shot back, saying:
"For those 12 months he ruled the world, not just MMA - the world. The one thing I can take away from him at that time was his focus. He was so focused. He decided what he wanted. He said stuff, he pointed to the sky, he reached for the stars, he reached for the moon and he made it happen."
However, upon listening to the clip, Holloway was unimpressed, stating that he didn't see the same McGregor anymore:
Even listening to it right now, I don't see that same focus. If you were going after everything, you're not focused on anything. He called out like 20 guys in that interview. I'm really not interested in him if he's not at his best and he doesn't seem healthy, he doesn't sound right.
He did, however, reveal that he is only interested if McGregor shows that same focus again:
"If he comes back and says 'Hey, I beat Max when he was a kid, but I want to fight him in his prime to prove that I'm the best ever', then yeah, I want the champ. I want that 2015-16 champ mentality and that focus and right now, it's just not interesting to me"
Are you interested in a potential Holloway-McGregor rematch?
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