Max Holloway is royally pissed, and he has every right to be.
The Hawaiian phenom has been blazing through every opponent the UFC has lined up for him over the last three years. He is currently riding a nine-fight win-streak and has defeated top-ranked contenders such as Ricardo Lamas, Cub Swanson and Jeremy Stephens.
For any other division that would all but guarantee him a crack at the belt, but with champion Conor McGregor set for a another high-profile bout away from the 145 lb division and interim belt-holder Jose Aldo desperately trying to burn his bridges with the promotion, Holloway has been left out in the cold.
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McGregor has claimed that he has already cleaned out the featherweight division by beating the the likes of Aldo and Chad Mendes, but Holloway takes issue with that statement, as he told MMA Fighting.
“There’s only two guys in our division that Conor beat that’s still ranked, myself and Aldo. Who the hell else did he beat? I don’t even know who he beat. I only know the two ranked guys were me and Aldo. I don’t take that away from Conor, that he beat Chad Mendes on short notice. Chad took that fight knowing he had a chance to beat Conor, so that’s Chad’s fault he took that fight. My last four guys I beat have all been ranked.”Â
Holloway is correct. At the time of writing, McGregor has only defeated two of the top 15, half the amount of currently ranked fighters he has beaten.
Prior to his incredible run of victories, Holloway dropped a unanimous decision to the Notorious. McGregor tore his ACL in his left knee during the second round of the bout, which he claims played a significant role in his inability to finish him off. Holloway’s not buying that excuse for a second though.
“I’m the only motherfucker to give him a hard time at 45, and everybody is like, oh my god, he tore his ACL, and I’m like, you motherfuckers, you guys are just as stupid as shit, to believe this guy tore his ACL and fought me for one-and-a-half rounds…fought me with a torn ACL? There’s no fucking way.”
“You see football players, volleyball players, track runners blow their ACL, they’re fucking crying, can’t even move. So what the hell makes this guy so special? He maybe had a tear or something, but not a completely blown ACL.”
According to Holloway, he hurt his “damn ankle” just 10 seconds into that fight and that’s why his own movement was so hampered. He doesn’t take anything away from McGregor, nor does he argue that it affected the outcome, but he certainly feels it made the fight less entertaining.
Holloway believes the only one way to settle that debate is to do it again inside the Octagon.
“People keep blaming his injury, as to why he couldn’t finish me — and I’ve even heard, multiple times him saying, ‘if I don’t finish a fight, it’s not a win, I fight to the finish.’ So why not fight me? This guy, the only fighter he does not talk about in the 45 division is me. He runs his mouth about everybody except for one, and that’s ‘Blessed.’ That’s Max Holloway. His team respects me, I heard his coach always say nice stuff about me, so step up to the plate. Step up to the challenge. You know who’s the hardest guy here. Come fight me. You want to fight the best guys, come fight the best guys. Stop selling this dream, and stop selling these lies.”
