Joe Rogan thinks the UFC should not stick with Max Holloway for Conor McGregor’s comeback fight.
In July, McGregor made his long-awaited return to the cage after a five-year absence, rematching Holloway in the main event of UFC 329. Unfortunately for McGregor, the bout lasted just over a minute as he blew out his knee throwing a jumping switch kick moments into the fight.
Now McGregor is on the shelf for a year while he recovers, and the former two-division champion is already talking about a trilogy
bout with Holloway next summer. But Rogan thinks the UFC should return to the original plan for McGregor’s comeback fight: Michael Chandler.
“Look, if Conor McGregor really does come back a year from now, I think he wants to fight Max Holloway. ‘I’ve got to finish what I’ve started!’ But really, Chandler was the right fight for him anyway,” Rogan said on his podcast. “Because they were supposed to fight, they did The Ultimate Fighter together, they were supposed to fight a long time ago, and then Conor breaks his [toe] and all that jazz. They were supposed to fight forever ago.
“That would have been a fun fight. A good fight for Conor because Chandler is, like, he’s very aggressive. He gets hit. But Chandler is tough as shit, man, and he’s a really good wrestler, whereas Conor, in his prime, was one of the best strikers ever. It would have been fun.”
Chandler was McGregor’s original comeback opponent, with the two scheduled to fight each other at UFC 303 in 2024. McGregor withdrew from that bout after breaking his toe, and by the time McGregor was ready to return, the UFC pivoted away from Chandler, who had lost two more fights by then. Instead, the promotion selected Holloway, but Rogan thinks that’s a tough task for McGregor, even at the best of times.
“Max Holloway is a different cat,” Rogan said. “Max Holloway is a five-rounder. You’d better have all of your Ts crossed, and your Is dotted if you want to go five rounds with Max motherf*cking Holloway, because that dude doesn’t fade. Period. He’s there in that fifth round, throwing bombs at you. And Conor’s been a guy who is real good in the first few rounds, but then his style is so explosive, it’s so energy-demanding that he fades. He faded in the Nate Diaz fight. He’s faded before. Because he tries to get you out of there. He tries to just explode on you, and if you’re still there and that gas tank gets emptied, it gets tough.”
McGregor is planning to return to action next summer, potentially at International Fight Week, though much will depend on how his ACL surgery and recovery proceed.
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