Conor McGregor is finally making his return to action at UFC 329 and he wasted no time turning up the heat when it comes to the verbal warfare with opponent Max Holloway.
Despite a five-year long absence and returning from a gruesome broken leg, McGregor sounded like he didn’t skip a beat when it came to his trash talk as he sounded off on Holloway after already beating him in their first encounter back in 2013. While that fight feels like a lifetime ago, McGregor took issue with the way Holloway was almost excused for losing because he was still so young at the time and only afterwards went on a historic run to become featherweight champion.
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“People claim this man to be the No. 1 pound-for-pound featherweight of all time when I son’d him at that weight,” McGregor said during a face-to-face encounter with Holloway. “Do you know that I’ve listened to people throughout the years say ‘Holloway was only a kid back then’ and I was not when myself and Max faced [off] for the first time.
“Max had his sixth UFC fight. He was my second. In Boston, I calmly put these big Irish balls on your face and I’m going to do it again.”
For his part, Holloway stayed calm, cool and collected with McGregor effectively shouting at him as he took a page out of the Irishman’s book and made a bold prediction of his own.
In fact, Holloway even adopted his own version of McGregor’s “Mystic Mac” nickname after the Irish superstar was made famous for calling his shots in the UFC.
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“Welcome to the Mystic Max era,” Holloway said. “Welcome back. Mystic Max is here. Return of the Max July 11. A bunch of gloves is going to get laid on that pretty face. Keep it clean for me.”
Of course, McGregor vehemently disagreed and despite his long layoffs, he promised to return with another epic outing with plans to beat Holloway again in the rematch.
“Max, you’re not going to lay a glove on me and even if you do lay a glove on me, I’m going to laugh in your face,” McGregor said. “It’s another world here against me and it’s another world at this weight.
“I’m going come out of this bout unscathed and in all glory. Max, I’m going to box you up with my hands down. I’m going to come out of this fight unscathed and I’m going to go again.”
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Obviously, Holloway disagreed and he even promised to offer McGregor an immediate rematch after they meet in July 11 at UFC 329.
If Holloway is victorious, that would make him 1-1 against McGregor and the only way to settle the score would be a rubber match before 2026 concludes.
“July 11, I’m going to handle business and we’re going to have a rematch at the end of the year,” Holloway said. “I’m going to be 1-0 against him and then we’re going to rematch at the end of the year. That’s what’s going to happen.”
