UFC: Conor McGregor Assesses Comeback Opponents, Calls Out Max Holloway

Conor McGregor's Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) comeback is gathering pace with the Irishman now in the process of assessing potential opponents for when he returns to the octagon. The Notorious looks almost certain to come out of retirement before the end of the year.

The former two-division UFC champion has been in the news for altercations away from the octagon with the most recent being a punching incident which saw McGregor attack an older patron at a bar in his homeland. He has since apologized for his actions and revealed in a recent interview that he is looking forward to returning to what he does best, which is win matches inside the octagon.

McGregor revealed that originally, he had planned to make a comeback in July but a broken hand during a sparring session further delayed his plans for a return. At the time it looked like he would fight Justin Gaethje but at the moment there is no fixed opponent on the Irishman’s radar.

“It’s time for me to just get back in. I was ready to go against anyone and I was preparing for the end of July and then [the broken hand] happened,” McGregor told ESPN on Thursday, as quoted on MMA Fighting.

“I believe it was leaning towards Justin Gaethje at that time. But the game changes so quick, everyone just comes and goes. It’s a forgetful business. It is a cruel, cruel business. Only for the amount of history I’ve made, the amount of iconic moments that’s happened in my career, they would love to throw me away, discard me.”

The most logical opponent and one that the Irishman has made clear that he wants is a rematch with reigning UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. He is keen to avenge his 2018 loss to the Russian but he is likely to wait for it as Max Holloway is said to be the No.1 contender at the moment.

McGregor revealed that he is also ready to take on Holloway, whom he last faced in 2013 when the Irishman won via unanimous decision. Holloway has since gone undefeated in the featherweight division and is the current UFC featherweight champion.

However, Holloway did suffer a loss to Dustin Poirier when he tried to move up a weight division and compete for the interim UFC lightweight championship and McGregor, who has held two weight division titles during his UFC career admitted that it is not as easy as people think. He also referenced Holloway’s trip to Ireland to promote Jameson Irish Whisky, which is a direct competitor of McGregor’s Proper No.12 whisky.

“It’s certainly a fight I’m interested in, young Holloway. It’s not as easy as you think to move up a division and to challenge for a second world title. You saw that with young Max,” McGregor said. “I thought him coming over [to Ireland] and doing that was a little cheap, although get your money. If you’re paid to come over and do this by a brand that’s afraid of me and afraid of what I’m doing, that’s OK. But whatever, it is what it is.

“This is another moment where I’m almost reacting to the bait. I need to accept things the way they are but the Holloway bout is certainly a bout I’m interested in. A lot of respect for Max. I truly do. He went through that issue that just kind of got forgotten about but I have a lot of respect for Max. He’s been through the wars, he’s been rushed and rushed and rushed, Max is definitely up there at the top of the list.”