Conor McGregor has some unfinished business with Max Holloway.
After disaster struck in their rematch back in July with McGregor blowing out his knee with his first kick in the fight, the Irish superstar is now recovering from surgery with plans to return in 2027. In fact, McGregor expects his comeback to happen sooner than later and he doesn’t see any option as appealing as running it back with Holloway again.
“It has to be Holloway,” McGregor said at the BKFC Glasgow post-fight press conference.
“Just do the f*cking thing again. Just do the thing again. The guy didn’t engage once. He’s the one that called for the stoppage in the fight. He said ‘ref, ref!’ He’s the one stopping the fight. Imagine I just said ‘yay!’ and jumped the fence. I won! He doesn’t want to f*cking fight.
“On the one leg, he wasn’t coming near me. So shocking and so heartbreaking to me and I’m still f*cking dealing with it. It has to be Holloway. Just f*cking dust it off, re-do it.”
Of course, Holloway has said he’s more than open to the idea of running it back with McGregor but it all comes down to timing.
Initially, McGregor announced plans to return for International Fight Week in 2027, which would mark one year from his previous outing and injury. Now it appears McGregor might be plotting a comeback even sooner if his knee his healed properly.
Either way, McGregor has also stated emphatically that he’s returning to fulfill the final fight on his UFC contract before reaching free agency.
If Holloway isn’t available for any reason, McGregor doesn’t sound like he’s shying away from a different opponent — as long as that person has championship credentials.
“I’m on my way back,” McGregor said. “What’s it now November? Three months I’m off of surgery. I done this injury before and returned within nine months. So nine months is pre-summer. I just want to go again and again.
“Now Holloway might be a jackass. Something might happen, I don’t know. But a fighter that fights me, put some respect on my name. If you’re not a world champion fighter, if you’ve not got world accolades to your name, don’t utter my f*cking name. If you’re a national champion, if you’re a f*cking regional champion, if you’ve don’t f*ck all but got a few likes, go f*ck yourself. Don’t mention my f*cking name. I said a world caliber fighter.”
