Max Holloway has business to handle at UFC 329 when he faces Conor McGregor in the main event, but he’s not oblivious about what could come next with an emphatic win.
It’s impossible to ignore that one of Holloway’s biggest and most impactful wins came back at UFC 300 when he delivered arguably the greatest finish in MMA history. With one second left on the clock, Holloway pointed to the canvas and slugged it out with Justin Gaethje before delivering a brutal knockout shot. Despite that loss, Gaethje battled his way back to becoming interim lightweight champion and then put on an all-time great performance to dethrone Ilia Topuria at the UFC White House card to claim the undisputed title.
Given their history, Holloway beating McGregor could set up a potential rematch, although Gaethje didn’t sound as interested when addressing the possibility after his recent win.
“Max definitely knocked me out,” Gaethje told Jim Rome. “But I feel like I got that win back with the Ilia Topuria fight.”
While Holloway does have a past loss to Topuria at featherweight, he’s still not sure exactly how Gaethje’s MMA math works out.
“I saw [Justin Gaethje] saying, too, and I had no idea about if you [get a win] somebody [else], you beat them,” Holloway, appearing on behalf of Stake, told MMA Fighting. “Technically, I beat Conor McGregor because I bust Dustin [Poirier], if that’s what he’s saying. At the end of the day, all jokes aside, it is what it is.”
As far as Gaethje becoming the first person to hand Topuria a loss, Holloway had nothing but praise for that gutsy performance.
If anything, the former UFC featherweight champion was actually a little shocked that so many people believed Gaethje had no chance whatsoever to pull off the upset.
“People counting Justin out, I was tripping out,” Holloway said. “I didn’t have Justin winning but I thought if Justin could win, he would have to do it that way. I thought he was going to have kicks more involved but he did it with his hands. He proved me wrong. He went out there and did his thing. It’s always crazy to see when this one person in the sport has this unbeatable [aura] around them and people just think they’re [unbeatable] and somebody comes out and [does] it.
“Congrats to Justin. He went out there, he looked good, he stuck to his game plan. He fought really smart. He took calculated risks. It paid off. Even surviving that body shot. What a demon. Congrats to the champ.”
In the same breath that he addressed the potential rematch against Holloway in the future, Gaethje admitted he plans on sitting front row to watch the UFC 329 main event and added he “would love to punch Conor McGregor in the face.”
Holloway isn’t reading too much into that, especially with plans to dispatch McGregor in their fight on July 11, but he knows a lot can change with another big win — including that rematch against Gaethje with the undisputed UFC lightweight title on the line.
“At the end of the day, that fight of course it’s right there,” Holloway said. “It’s dangling right in front of him.
“I’m focused on doing what I’ve got to do, get my hand raised in great fashion come July 11. Whatever way the UFC wants to go, we go. UFC’s crazy. Look at the fights they put on, look at what they’re able to do. If you told me I was going to fight Conor McGregor after my last fight, you’re crazy but we’re here now. Days away. I can’t wait.”
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