Conor McGregor is still insistent that he has unfinished business with Max Holloway.
McGregor (22-7 MMA, 10-5 UFC) saw his long-awaited return to MMA end in disaster at UFC 329 in July when his rematch with Holloway (28-9 MMA, 24-9 UFC) was waved off in a matter of seconds. The former two-division champion blew out his knee on a jumping kick attempt at the opening bell, and not long after it was waved off for the TKO, giving Holloway the win and leaving everyone disappointed.
"The Notorious" is several months removed from his August surgery, and said he's eager to return early in the summer of 2027 to complete the well-documented final fight on his current UFC contract. McGregor claims he will lay his MMA gloves down afterward and go on to compete
for BKFC, but first he must get through another competition.
For McGregor, there's zero question about who should be standing across from him for his UFC finale.
“It has to be Holloway,” McGregor told reporters at Saturday's BKFC Glasgow post-fight news 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 and re-do it.”
There's no doubt that Holloway would be game to complete the trilogy with the brash Irishman. Whether the UFC would be interested in staging that fight again remains to be seen.
It's clear McGregor is champing at the bit to return to action, though. The 38-year-old was passionate and intense as he addressed reporters, and although he wants Holloway again, he said he won't pigeonhole himself into one fight.
McGregor wants respect in the process of setting up his final UFC fight, though, and said there's a certain calibre of opponent he'd only be willing to entertain.
“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.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Conor McGregor: Final UFC fight 'has to be Max Holloway' trilogy
