Conor McGregor wants Max Holloway again, and he wants everybody to hear about it. The Irishman went on a profanity-heavy rant aimed at Holloway on Saturday, demanding the UFC put together a trilogy fight, according to reports from heavy.com and LowKickMMA. LowKickMMA’s headline carried the line that sums up the whole thing: “Just do the fu**ing thing again.”
The frustration is easy to trace. McGregor came back this past July at UFC 329 after five years out of the Octagon, headlining against Holloway, and the fight lasted 69 seconds. McGregor’s knee gave out in the opening moments, a leg injury of the same kind that put him on the shelf for that long layoff to begin with. He had surgery and isn’t expected to fight again until next summer, per MMA Fighting.
That next fight carries weight for McGregor’s future. It’s the last bout on his UFC deal, and he has made it clear he plans to leave afterward. Speaking to Spitfire Gym Berlin at the Hype Italy event earlier this week, McGregor said he intends to move to bare-knuckle fighting once he’s free of the UFC. He took an ownership stake in BKFC in 2024, so that destination isn’t much of a shock. He also brushed off the extra damage that comes with bare fists. “Eh, teeth come and go! Just like a nose, it means nothing!” he said.
View post on X
McGregor had already floated running it back with Holloway given how unsatisfying UFC 329 was. Now he’s yelling about it.
Not everyone thinks the UFC should bother. Former two-division champ Henry Cejudo said on his Pound 4 Pound podcast that if he were Dana White, he’d simply release McGregor rather than pay for one more fight. Cejudo said he believes McGregor made $30 million for the Holloway bout and argued that, without the old pay-per-view model, the money doesn’t add up anymore. “At this point, he’s just f*cking trolling,” Cejudo said. He did concede that McGregor still moves revenue, pointing to the announced $26 million gate for UFC 329.
The résumé has thinned out, too. McGregor is 1-4 in the UFC since his 2017 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr., and his reputation outside the cage took a heavy hit when he was found liable for sexual assault in 2024. Holloway, meanwhile, has been in Hawaii helping ONE two-division champion Christian Lee prepare for his welterweight title defense against Tye Ruotolo.
View post on X
Here’s my take, from the guy who once lost a week’s grocery money on a comeback fighter at minus odds. McGregor will be roughly a year removed from knee surgery, his last real win is a long way back in the rearview, and the one time he stepped in there after five years off, the leg didn’t survive a minute. If a book hangs a trilogy line that treats him like a live dog, fine, someone will bite on the name. I’m keeping my wallet in my pocket until I see him put weight on that knee in a camp, and the earliest anyone expects that is next summer.
