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Max Holloway on getting past the legend that is Conor McGregor in his UFC return
08/07/2026
UFC McGregor - Holloway 2
08/07/2026
UFC McGregor - Holloway 2
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SportsTranscript
00:17max over here back in the corner you've been waiting a long time to share the octagon with
00:23conor mcgregor and now we're just a few days away and you're sitting up here at media day
00:27what has this week been like for you what what are the feelings right now does it feel like just
00:31any
00:31other fight or how would you describe it i mean my media schedule felt like any other fight but uh
00:37when you go on social media you see everybody you see the eyes you see the clicks that you're
00:42getting on everywhere it's huge you know it's fun and um when the world cup is going on and people
00:48talking about holloway versus mcgregor too that's an amazing time to be alive how often do you reflect
00:54on that first fight i know it's something you've wanted for a long time but obviously so much has
00:57happened over the years since that first fight with championships and hiatuses for connor and all
01:03sorts of stuff like how much do you reflect on that first fight heading into this one not much you
01:08know you live you learn you know everything every loss to us is a learning experience and that's all
01:13it was you know i got to do some great things after that he did some great things and uh
01:17we're here now
01:1813 years later and um i'm excited i was asking robert whitaker a little while ago about light
01:24heavyweight robert whitaker and he feels like it's been life-changing welterweight max holloway has that
01:29been just as life-changing for you what is this fight week like fighting at 170 as opposed to 55
01:34and
01:3445 i mean 45 you can't even compare it right 55 always talked about how uh it's been great been
01:42better
01:42it's been awesome 170 oh my gosh it's just performance up here so i love it and last thing
01:49for me yesterday you in dc had another infamous run-in what was that like for you and what's
01:54the message for daniel cormier a day later i mean i just saw him again you know i keep harassing
01:59him
01:59i've been calling him out for years bro he's been running away if i could get another fight that's the
02:04man i want to be they keep talking about weight classes this and that dude can just show up we
02:09gotta
02:10we gotta we gotta solve our problems max what have you made about connor's apparent frustration
02:15that he's not talked about as the greatest featherweight of all time and he's a little bit
02:19mad that you sometimes get caught that i i'm i'm just hearing this now is he frustrated i mean
02:25it is what it is right when people talk about uh talk about this kind of stuff or stats or
02:31history
02:31you want the fans and you guys to talk about it not us so yeah he got a boy he
02:36he needs to start
02:38picking a bone with you guys not me it's not my fault what do you feel you know when guys
02:43move
02:43up in weight people start talking about does the power translate does the chin translate as you're
02:48the bigger guy up there now at 170 do you feel like it makes you a stronger guy does it
02:52make you
02:52a slower guy what does the changes do to your performance i feel good strength cardio movement
02:58everything everything that you just you said i feel great i uh i know you guys been following me
03:04on media and seeing what i've been doing we bring in the former 170 champion jack della had great
03:10looks had great training we was only supposed to train together for a week we loved it so much he
03:14ended up staying for a second week and uh i think so bringing him in was huge you know it
03:18was good
03:19fun and uh we'll get to find out saturday night it's gonna be fun it is what it is you
03:23have done
03:24uh a lot of stuff in the last five years since connor's been away right 300 the bmf belt
03:29there's been massive moments do you feel like getting this rematch that for a while there we
03:34were never sure if you might get has this whole week in this whole process just been fun like
03:38finally i get it it's going to be fun i get to try and get my win back talk about
03:42the experience of
03:42having this rematch books and just the emotions getting it after years of waiting around for it
03:47it's huge you know i who who would have thought that connor was even coming back after what happened
03:52uh with the injury and in with him and his other injury and at a fight that he had so
04:00it's just big you know i i finally get the right or wrong and uh i'm looking forward to it
04:06you know
04:06uh he's a killer and i'm looking forward to see the best conor mcgregor come july 11 and
04:13hopefully i get a sports center number one spot up there what's the money like for a conor mcgregor
04:17these days uh it's beautiful bro i'll tell you this much every single guy that uh fighter or
04:23non-fighter is saying that i'm fighting for money i'm a prize fighter brother this is what we do if
04:28he wasn't fighting for money you're an idiot max uh just one quick one to kind of go back on
04:33the dc
04:34and fighting a welterweight and everything on embedded almost 10 years ago there's a clip of you
04:39calling dc quote a fat shit because because he gets to eat rice so how's the diet been as a
04:46well i
04:46guess i get to call myself a fat shit because i get to eat rice now and fight camp but
04:50uh yeah
04:50it's awesome it's awesome he dc's a fatter shit so now it's crazy max here um this is going to
04:59be
04:59your 15th main event in the ufc the only people who have more are anderson silva at 21 john jones
05:05at 19 randy couture at 18 and tito ortiz at 16 do you think when it's all said and done
05:11you top that
05:11list shit i need six more yeah so looks like you guys gonna see me for six more probably
05:17and i know you keep saying you you want that 300 moment right and you're chasing that again but
05:21i feel like i always hear fighters talk about when you start chasing things in the fights that's when
05:26they don't come to you so how do you i guess find the balance and wanting something spectacular but also
05:31fighting as you need to i understand what you're saying you know i i couldn't tell you but that's the
05:39things that i want you know i i didn't like you said i i know there's records out there that
05:43i want
05:45i guess i don't even think about them so you just made me change my mind i'm not chasing no
05:48moment
05:49i want sports center top 10 maybe we get the number one z reverse psychology and then you said last
05:55time
05:55you didn't love having to do all the face-offs with charles the paramount one i don't think you're
05:59gonna have to do it because we're not at the apex this time so are you just looking forward to
06:02seeing
06:02connor for the first time tomorrow in front of the crowd with all that energy for sure yeah i mean
06:07i think
06:08that face off is just weird bro weird as hell you keep seeing this guy i mean i know but
06:12i'm usually
06:12cool with the guys you know even with charles but so just weird seeing him true like you know we're
06:17not going on a date or nothing you know just let me see them one time so at the end
06:21of the day uh i'm
06:23glad that we finally get to go back to somewhat normal the press conference weigh-ins and then fight
06:28night should be fun max max you you beat gaethje and you are the bmf but connor insists he's still
06:37the true owner of the division what are you going to do this sourdough to prove his time has passed
06:44it
06:45i'm gonna go in there and put pause on him you know i'm gonna make him wish that he didn't
06:49come
06:49back actually no i'm not gonna make him wish that i'm gonna make him think that he can do it
06:53one more
06:53time so we can rematch at the end of the year max down here to your left dead here to
07:00your left here
07:01you can't see me anyway anyway um i feel like the consensus along among most mma fans given
07:09connor's layoff is that you should walk right through him particularly with your um your volume
07:15heavy style how is it competing with the pressure of being the one who should come out with the
07:20victory i mean that's crazy talk right a lot of these a lot of people a lot of fans is
07:25counting
07:25connor out which is crazy i mean a lot of people count just engage you out i mean this is
07:29different
07:30this is different uh situations right but this guy has unlimited money you know i mean he has a lot
07:36of connections he um he's coming back from a crazy injury he supposedly found god his kids are
07:44going to be here at the fight i saw tim grover in a picture with him i don't know if
07:48that's the
07:48coach now but he's doing all the right things you know i mean so i'm getting ready for the most
07:53dangerous conor mcgregor we ever saw and nobody's telling me otherwise because uh once you start
07:59overlooking people things don't go too well for you and you mentioned it there he has millions of
08:04pounds well dollars in the bank he has accolades he doesn't need to do this what do you think
08:09that says about his character he's an animal he's a warrior bro nothing but more than more respect
08:15you know there's a saying that um that i grew up watching i forget what what uh what boxer promoter
08:21said it but i was watching a freaking a documentary and he said and he said right you know he
08:28was like
08:29why the hell would a rich kid fight rich kid don't need to fight you know poor kids fight so
08:34to see that he still got that that that that side of him in him is uh it's exciting do
08:39you think that
08:40you'll be given the credit for being this version of conor mcgregor obviously um coming off the
08:44leg break the five years do you maybe wish that this had come a few years earlier i mean when
08:51it's
08:51all said and done uh we live in a social media way i don't think anybody getting credit for anything
08:56nowadays so at the end of the day if they give me the credit if not it is what it
09:01is i get to go out
09:02there and uh knock a check uh check something off my list thank you max in the middle right here
09:09any concerns that this fight wasn't going to happen just because it has been so long that conor's
09:13been in there and if so did that weigh on you at all during camp whether you know this is
09:16going
09:16to happen or not not at all you know i didn't have too many concerns you know everybody talked
09:20about that one chandler fight he did only really ever pulled out of that fight ever in his whole
09:25ufc career it was one you know and people just hold it like tooth and nail toward four towards him
09:30which is crazy but um i had nothing you know i just trained as usual and if uh if it
09:36didn't happen
09:36it didn't happen um if we got to this point and it still didn't happen then so then they have
09:42they
09:43have other guys in the pipeline i believe and we're just ready for whatever you mentioned training
09:47with jack de la madelina is that something you plan on doing in the future or was it specific to
09:50fighting mcgregor oh for sure now we got guys you know i'm at that point in my career where i
09:55think
09:55so we have a little bit more connections with a lot of different camps and different people and
09:59uh bringing in different bodies is is good you know it only helps me uh i learned a lot from
10:05jack and
10:05you know i'm excited to do more training in the future this last one for me i don't know how
10:09much you still follow the toronto raptors but what do you think of kawaii leonard going back to the
10:12raptors in the big trade i'm pretty excited i'm pretty excited you know i gotta i gotta uh bobby be
10:17at the fight the gm and um i gotta have a sit down talk with him because i don't know
10:22some of the
10:22stuff we gave up i'm like i don't know but uh kawaii is kawaii i'm excited and um who's to
10:29say he
10:30don't bring one back you know to the city so it'll be fun hey max there's another uh
10:35pacific islander more on the maori side and robert whittaker who's also moving up a division
10:39in this card so i'll kind of ask you the same question i asked him um what's that like with
10:43this camp being up as far as your walking weight goes can you maybe tell us a little insight as
10:47far
10:47as what your walking weight was around 55 and does it change too much for this 170 camp yeah bro
10:52it
10:53changed a little bit you know i definitely got to get a little bit heavier we want to be a
10:56little bit
10:56bigger i mean the cut is not as crazy but it's still a cut so at the end of the
11:01day your boy finally
11:01got to put on some size and i'm just excited to show you guys saturday night and as far as
11:06pressure
11:06testing it in the gym goes we just mentioned jack de la madalena as far as southpaw looks um was
11:11there
11:11any southpaws for one and for two how did that weight feel you know moving around for this camp
11:17with the extra weight feel good you know i have my boy jack and then uh we have another guy
11:21you guys
11:21don't know his name uh my man will he's been with me throughout the whole camp and then uh he
11:26actually
11:27had to leave a little bit so that's when jack came in and it was amazing it was amazing man
11:31these
11:31guys are big boys i love it and i love the way i feel i love the i love my
11:35punching power i love my
11:36power with them i love clinching and feeling everything that 170 had to offer and uh i can't
11:43wait to show you guys saturday night fantastic and last one for me you are two and three against
11:48ufc level southpaws you've avenged all those losses minus conor mcgregor which you'll have
11:52obviously a chance this saturday tell me max you you don't want to give away too much of the game
11:56plan i imagine but what do you feel about facing southpaws something you like something you don't
12:01like i noticed in the arnold allen fight you fought like all southpaw almost and then not as
12:05much against poyer do you just change it up for the different opponent or what's up yeah yeah yeah
12:09yeah every every single fight we we approach differently and we saw certain certain uh certain
12:14things that work with certain people and that's all we do you know i got i got some of the
12:19best
12:19minds in the game uh and my coaches you know with ryan lazarus uh ivan flores and darren yapman these
12:26guys you guys you guys wouldn't even know their names if i didn't say them you know that that's
12:31these guys like being in being in the dark max um a large part of the storyline around this fight
12:38is
12:39obviously connor's five-year absence as a guy who's been so active how do you think a five-year layup
12:44would have affected you in your career like i said i i think it should affect them i think i
12:48could
12:49come back from five you give me his bank account uh all his connections brother i'll be back in 10
12:54years that's what i'll do you know like everybody bringing that that excuse up yeah the only thing
12:59that he misses maybe the walk the arena the feel right but we still had stone-cold killers in there
13:05bro he still he still was one of the best fighters in the world at one point so i'm looking
13:09forward to
13:10the best conor mcgregor best of luck thank you brother uh max back here um here so there was
13:16like you were asked there about the the finance going to this is this the the best payday of your
13:20career this fight ah for sure i mean maybe we see everybody keep talking about uh conor mcgregor
13:29this and that and fighting for money like i said man anybody who ever says that they don't fight for
13:33money they're lying to their damn teeth bro we we're prize fighters we're money fighters is what we want
13:39did you notice anything like particularly when you fought on paramount the last time versus
13:43obviously you're a pay-per-view headliner your last one would have been against poria on pay-per-view
13:47did you notice like financially there was much of a difference between those two yeah for sure 100
13:52percent and uh if you didn't notice it uh you guys need new managers fighters wait was it good or
13:58bad
13:58like was the it was very nice and last one just you were asked there about uh but oscar asked
14:04about
14:04you know uh conor being frustrated at being you know not ranked as the best featherweights
14:09of the five who have had that that belt you uh volk ilia conor and obviously aldo how do you
14:15rank
14:15them from from one to five i think aldo aldo aldo is my favorite you know i mean but i
14:20can see the case
14:21what with with um with volk for sure you know i mean and then i i also see through the
14:26media size
14:27wise i'm not going to rank myself in it right so if it's four would have to be would have
14:32to be
14:32although um aldo volk maybe you give a little bit more to ilia because of uh who he did and
14:42the
14:42guys he fought right and conor just won it one time boom disappeared became a double champ so
14:48you know you know truth to him but that's just the way i look at it
14:50you know truth to him thank you guys
14:54you
14:55you
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