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Last night was a big night for former UFC Featherweight champion Max Holloway. He defeated Calvin Kattar in the UFC’s first-ever show on the ABC network, putting together a masterful performance in the process.Max Holloway has stated that he’d be willing to fight Conor McGregor again, so what happened when the Hawaiian took on ‘The Notorious One’ back in 2013?
Conor McGregor and Max Holloway fought on the first UFC show on Fox Sports 1
Conor McGregor burst onto the UFC scene as a Featherweight back in March 2013, knocking out Marcus Brimage in his debut. It was a massively impressive showing, and the Irishman’s natural charisma immediately marked him out as a potential star.
UFC President Dana White immediately had big plans for Conor McGregor, and booked him to headline the preliminary portion of the UFC’s first card on the new Fox Sports 1 channel in August 2013, facing the UK’s Andy Ogle.
Max Holloway meanwhile had debuted in the UFC just over a year before Conor McGregor, in a losing effort against Dustin Poirier. Just 21 at the time, ‘Blessed’ had then won three more UFC fights in the Featherweight division before dropping a tight split decision to Dennis Bermudez in May 2013.
Despite his young age, Max Holloway had already garnered the reputation of a man willing to fight anyone at any time. When Andy Ogle was forced to withdraw from his fight with Conor McGregor with eight weeks to go, the UFC turned to ‘Blessed’, and Holloway accepted the late-notice booking.
What happened when Conor McGregor fought Max Holloway?
Conor McGregor came into his fight with Max Holloway as the betting favourite, despite having far less UFC experience than his opponent.
And the opening round showed exactly why this was the case. Conor McGregor picked at Max Holloway with all kinds of strikes from the outside, looking supremely confident. He used his length and reach to keep the Hawaiian at bay whilst landing everything from uppercuts to wheel kicks.
Max Holloway was clearly not the same striker he is today, and didn’t seem to have much of an answer to Conor McGregor’s attack. However, things changed up dramatically late in the second round.
Conor McGregor uses his ground game for the first time in the UFC
The latter part of the second round saw a curious decision from Conor McGregor. He took Max Holloway down and showed off his ground skills, controlling the Hawaiian. And the third round followed the same pattern, as ‘The Notorious One’ used a ground-and-pound game to outwork ‘Blessed’, eventually picking up a unanimous decision.
It turned out that Conor McGregor had implemented this gameplan as he’d torn his ACL in the second round of the fight. The injury would keep him out of action for almost an entire year, although his name remained in MMA news throughout.
What happened in the aftermath of the fight?
Conor McGregor moved to 2-0 in the UFC, and then returned to action in July 2014, beating Diego Brandao. Just 17 months later, he knocked out Jose Aldo to become the UFC’s new Featherweight champion.
Max Holloway meanwhile returned in January 2014 and knocked out Will Chope. That was the start of a lengthy 13-fight win streak that saw him win the UFC Featherweight title in 2017, before losing it to Alexander Volkanovski in 2019.
So could the two fight again?
Conor McGregor and Max Holloway have largely remained apart since that fight in 2013, but recently, Holloway stated that he’d love to fight McGregor again, claiming it was a fight that would intrigue him.
And with Holloway having fought at Lightweight – where McGregor now competes – in 2019, a rematch between the two would definitely be one of the most fascinating fights that the UFC could book right now.
Will we see it in 2021? Only time will tell.
