Max Holloway has no problem with his rematch against Conor McGregor being held at 170 pounds.
That’s one weight class up from the lightweight division where Holloway currently competes, and two weight classes up from the featherweight division where Conor and Max fought for the first time back in 2013. The division choice undoubtedly gives McGregor a size advantage coming into their UFC 329 fight on July 11th, but “Blessed” couldn’t care less.
“My thoughts on the fight being at 170 was like, who cares?” Holloway said in a new video on his YouTube channel. “Weight is just a number. Real gladiators back in the day, they didn’t walk around with a scale. You show up and you fight, and I’m a fighter. Open weight class, whatever weight class. I’m glad I get to share the Octagon with him.”
“Weight ain’t nothing but a number,” he repeated.
“That old fight with him,13 years ago, we fought,” Holloway said. “And the question was asked a lot: do you watch it? Can you take anything away from it? And the answer is no. It’s 13 years. We was two young scrawny guys trying to make a name for ourselves and now we’re here. He did what he did, he changed the sport in a major way.”
“Glad to have him back, but unfortunately he’s gotta see me. And five years is a long time. But I’m getting ready for the best Conor McGregor there is. I know he’s taking it serious. He looks like he’s taking it very serious and I’m excited for the challenge.”
Conor McGregor changed the sport in part due to his “Notorious” trash talk. After five years away, it’s unclear whether we’ll see that McGregor or a more respectful version. For his part, Max is hoping for some trash talk.
“I think he’ll be respectful to a certain point but the dude’s got the gift of gab,” Holloway said. “So if he starts talking, you might actually see a little bit of the Hawaiian boy come out of me. Not many of you guys know if you guys want to s–t talk, I love s–t talking too. I don’t do it too much. But if you want to go that round, I’d love to tussle.”
Max Holloway vs. Conor McGregor 2 goes down from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Nevada at UFC 329 on July 11th.
