Holloway: 'I don't have to beg, I know I'm in (McGregor's) mind'
Max Holloway can't help but crack a smile at some of the crazy things Conor McGregor says from time to time, but he draws the line when the UFC featherweight champion starts requesting opponents beg for the chance to face him.
At FOX UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Orlando, Fla., three separate fighters — lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, Nate Diaz and Charles Oliveira — all name dropped McGregor after wins, which prompted the outspoken Irishman to respond on Twitter.
"Line them up on their knees with their hands out. I want them to beg me," McGregor wrote.
Holloway enjoys McGregor's antics as much as the next guy, but he's not in the business of begging anyone for anything. Holloway knows deep down that he gave McGregor his toughest fight thus far in the UFC and he's now riding an eight-fight win streak inside the Octagon.
In Holloway's opinion that credibility speaks much louder that calling him out by name and begging for a title shot.
"Conor's doing a great job marketing himself," Holloway told FOX Sports on Monday. "He went out and did what he had to do in the fights. At the end of the day, all these guys like he said begging and putting it out there, I don't care. I'm not going to beg for a fight.
"The interesting thing is you can go look in every one of his interviews — he never talks about me. I don't know what the reason is, I always hope it's respect. He's a respectful guy and you've got to respect what he's doing. He runs his mouth about everyone else but never runs his mouth about me. He brings up all his past opponents except one name and that name is Max Holloway. So I don't have to beg. I know I'm in his mind."
Holloway fought McGregor to a decision in 2013, which stands as the only fight the current featherweight champ had in the UFC that went the distance. It has to be noted Holloway suffered a sprained ankle early in the fight and McGregor ended up with a torn ACL in his knee so neither fighter was truly able to give an A+ performance, but that only spurs the No. 4 ranked bantamweight to want an eventual rematch even more.
Holloway sees McGregor as the kind of opponent he'll probably face multiple times throughout his career, but he's hoping the second fight will happen sooner rather than later because he'd like nothing more than to get his hands on that featherweight title.
"That one fight we had wasn't his greatest fight and it wasn't mine either," Holloway said. "It's bound to happen. I don't know if it's going to happen at 145 or 155 (pounds), but he's young, I'm young, and we're probably going to run into each other a bunch of times. I look forward to it.
"If the UFC wants a big money fight, especially at 145, I think Holloway vs. McGregor 2 would do great numbers and I think pay-per-view wise we'd be super good, too. We'll probably be irritating each other, we'll always find a way to fight each other."
Holloway isn't sure at this point how things are going to play out, especially with McGregor contemplating a run at the lightweight title. The 24-year old Hawaiian hopes McGregor sticks around featherweight for a little bit longer because there are a couple of top contenders waiting in the wings as well as a potential rematch with former champion Jose Aldo.
Holloway is anxious to land a big fight as well and whether it's McGregor, Aldo or Frankie Edgar, he just knows that the title is within his reach and he wants nothing more than to get a chance to grab that gold ring. He's heard his name mentioned alongside Aldo several times and that's definitely a matchup he's interested in taking if the Brazilian doesn't land an automatic rematch with McGregor next year.
"That guy's been the king of the division for a long time," Holloway said of Aldo. "It sucks, everybody got their rematch — from Cain Velasquez to Anderson Silva and even Ronda Rousey's talking about getting her rematch. Thirteen seconds (for Aldo to lose to McGregor), it is what it is, but (Aldo has) been dominant so long why not give him his shot back. A lot of hard training for 13 seconds. I think he deserves a shot back, but at the end of the day if I get to fight him that would be my toughest test to date.
"A lot of people telling me I'm not ready to step up, but I look forward to that matchup. That's a matchup I wanted when he was in the WEC, when I was a guy coming up and that was always a person I wanted to fight. I feel great if we got the matchup with him or anyone in the division."
For now, Holloway is looking forward to some much deserved time off after a very busy 2015. He's going to enjoy the holidays with his family while allowing some nagging injuries to heal up but he won't take his eye of the prize and when the UFC comes calling with the next fight. There's no doubt he'll be ready to answer.
"I want to fight," Holloway said. "I've got some injuries this last fight but I want to heal up, enjoy the holidays, my son's birthday is coming up so I'm going to take him to Disneyland and that will be my first trip. So I'm thinking maybe the end of May, beginning of June is when I wanted to get back in there. That way I could let these injuries heal up and then hit camp hard and just be the best. 2016, the sky's the limit.
"I'm focused, I'm dedicated and I want it. I want to leave no question marks. I want to fight the best in the world and I want to show them. I don't like doing this talk on social media and even talking crap in interviews. I don't like doing that. I like my success to speak for itself. Next year I want to show that I'm one of the best fighters in the world."
