“Notorious” Conor McGregor jumps to the defence of Max Holloway ahead of the UFC 308 Featherweight title fight between Ilia “El Matador” Topuria and Max “Blessed” Holloway
With only 10 days to go until the monstrous UFC 308 main event, rivalries seem to be springing up everywhere. Topuria is stopping at nothing to throw his fellow rostermen under the bus.
Starting with McGregor and going on to roast Welterweight champion Belal Muhammad on X. When discussing his upcoming fight against Holloway, Topuria was unimpressed by Max’s career.
In a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria went on a tirade. In the interview, Topuria belittled Holloway for losing to Conor McGregor via decision back in 2013.
He stated:
“He got beat by Conor McGregor – when you get beaten by Conor McGregor, shut the f*** up, f*** just forget about it, when Conor McGregor beats you, [you should] forget about it.”
Although Topuria feels like losing to McGregor is a bad look, at the time Max was only 21 and the first man to take Conor to a decision. Following the victory McGregor knocked out everyone is his path to claim the Featherweight championship in 2015 against Jose Aldo.
Furthermore, the loss to McGregor would kickstart Holloway’s six-year, 13-fight unbeaten streak. Whether Topuria was trying to insult Holloway or simply jab at McGregor is uncertain, but “Notorious” was quick to jump to the defence of “Blessed.”
Calling him an “all-time great” Conor McGregor showered Max Holloway in praise in a recent post on X.
Conor McGregor Defends Max Holloway in Back and Forth Feud With Ilia Topuria
In a now-deleted post on X Conor McGregor showed great respect for title challenger Holloway. Noting how much Holloway improved after their fight and taking some of the credit for Holloway’s title run.
It read:
“It’s not a bad shout hahaha but Holloway came back and earned it majorly. Two-time FW champion. Attempted double champ. Is current BMF champ. Nah he the real deal. Always was, always is. Holloway is an always was, always is…
1000% He became way better after losing to me. He actually became an all-time great after losing to me. This is a stellar fight folks! He took moves as well with him. He became ambidextrous after fighting me… can fight in both stances now as good as each other.”
Going on to warn Topuria of Max’s underrated power, saying:
“He will be very hard to catch for the little man. Don’t walk into a crushing blow bro. He is strong too. And very experienced! 100%! BIG FIGHT FEEL FOR ME HERE, FOLKS! Oh yes Let’s go! #yawelcome #ufcabudhabi.”
For all the insults, Topuria stated he likely would never fight McGregor, but would welcome him into training.
Telling Helwani:
“That’s never going to happen, never. How?! I’m the world champion and he’s not even in the rankings, but we can do something if he wants… For my next training camp for my next fight, I invite him, and I invite him [to train] with Dan Hooker and they can do two-and-a-half one, two-and-a-half another.
I change them each like every round, we can do that. An official fight is impossible and at this point, I have much bigger fights [available] than Conor McGregor… Conor McChicken.”
UFC 308 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi goes down on the 26th of October 2024. The card is stacked with talent including the likes of; Khamzat Chimaev v Robert Whittaker, Lerone Murphy v Dan Ige and Magomed Ankalaev v Aleksandar Rakic.
Conor McGregor seems to be siding with Max Holloway, but who do you think takes the fight? Comment down below your thoughts.
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