Max Holloway Calls Conor McGregor’s Focus Into Question
Max Holloway was recently talked about in discussions to have a rematch with Conor McGregor. However now he says he is uninterested in that match.
Max Holloway is slated to face Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 245, in December. He is fresh off a title defense against Frankie Edgar, and a failed attempt to move up to lightweight and win an interim title before that. During that time, it was talked about that he could potentially face Conor McGregor in a rematch.
The two fought early in both of their careers, with McGregor getting the better of Holloway. Since then, both men have had very different career paths. Subsequently, when McGregor was looking for a return opponent, there was talk it could be against Holloway.
However, in a recent interview on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, Holloway says he is not interested in this fight. When speaking with Ariel, he explained the difference in Conor’s mindset between then, and now.
“When Conor beat Aldo in December 2015 and when he beat Eddie in November 2016, for those 12 months, he ruled the world. The world. Not just the UFC, the world. And the one thing I can remember and take away from that time was his focus. He was so focused. He decided what he wanted, and he said stuff, he pointed at this guy, he reached for the stars, he reached for the moon, and he made it happen. Magical.”
However, he says things have changed, as evident in McGregor’s recent ESPN interview.
“Listening to him now, I don’t see that same focus. If you’re going after everything, you’re not focused on anything. He called out like 20 guys in that interview.”
It’s because of this, that Max Holloway has no interest in facing McGregor.
“I’m not interested in competing with him if he’s not at his best, And he doesn’t seem healthy, and he doesn’t sound right. If he comes back and he says, ‘Hey, I beat Max when he was a kid, but I want to beat him in his prime to prove that I’m the best ever,’ then yeah I want the champ. I want that champ. I want that 2015-2016 champ. That mentality and that focus, and right now it’s just not interesting to me.
I want to fight the best Conor McGregor. So he can go figure things out, and he can let us know.”
Max Holloway does bring up some good points about Conor McGregor’s mindset However, if he can get a better mindset, it would be interested in seeing the two of them fight.
