‘I don’t just knock them out, I pick the round’ Conor McGregor famously said.
We saw it against top wrestler Chad Mendes, who went down in the second as predicted, and we saw Mystic Mac’s magic again with the first round KO of Jose Aldo.
But there’s one man in the UFC that McGregor couldn’t put to sleep with that famous left hand – that’s Max Holloway.
The 24-year-old is the only man in seven UFC fights to have taken the Notorious the distance, eventually losing by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 26.
But Holloway, now unbeaten in eight straight fights, believes this one blot on McGregor’s impressive knock-out record is in the champ’s mind.
“I’m the one guy that actually gave McGregor a fight,” he said earlier this month.
The Hawaiian reckons the pair have unfinished business but refuses to get down on his knees and beg for a chance to fight him as the brash Irishman suggested all challengers should.
“Conor’s doing a great job marketing himself,” he told FOX Sports. “He went out and did what he had to do in the fights.
“At the end of the day, all these guys like he said begging and putting it out there, I don’t care. I’m not going to beg for a fight.
“The interesting thing is you can go look in every one of his interviews — he never talks about me. I don’t know what the reason is, I always hope it’s respect.
“He’s a respectful guy and you’ve got to respect what he’s doing. He runs his mouth about everyone else but never runs his mouth about me.
“He brings up all his past opponents except one name and that name is Max Holloway. So I don’t have to beg. I know I’m in his mind.”
The number four-ranked featherweight believes it’s only a matter of time before McGregor vs Holloway 2 happens after their 2013 clash saw him with a sprained ankle and the Dubliner tear his ACL ligament.
“That one fight we had wasn’t his greatest fight and it wasn’t mine either,” Holloway said. “It’s bound to happen. I don’t know if it’s going to happen at 145 or 155 (pounds), but he’s young, I’m young, and we’re probably going to run into each other a bunch of times. I look forward to it.
“If the UFC wants a big money fight, especially at 145, I think Holloway vs. McGregor 2 would do great numbers and I think pay-per-view wise we’d be super good, too. We’ll probably be irritating each other, we’ll always find a way to fight each other.”
