Max Holloway lobbying for long-Awaited rematch with Conor McGregor: ‘I’d fight him openweight’

Max Holloway is open to running it back with Conor McGregor nearly a decade removed from their first meeting.

‘Blessed’ is coming off another big victory in the featherweight division, scoring a unanimous decision win over Arnold Allen in a UFC Fight Night headliner earlier this month. Having already come up short against reigning 145-pound champion Alexander Volkanovski on three separate occasions, Max Holloway finds himself in a precarious position. Nobody is clamoring for a fourth meeting between the two, but if Hollway keeps fending off other potential contenders, the promotion may have no choice, but to book Volkanovski vs. Holloway IV at some point.

Making an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Max Holloway offered a potential solution, suggesting a long-awaited rematch with the Irishman may be the way to go.

“I would love to fight Conor,” Holloway said. “I was the only guy that took Conor to a decision at 145, and he’s big right now, we’ll see what happens. I know he wants to come back, and that would be a fight that is super interesting, super fun. There’s a lot of questions, a lot of unknowns, we’re just two different fighters from when we fought back then” (h/t BJPenn.com)

Max Holloway is Willing to Face Conor McGregor at Welterweight

Max Holloway and Conor McGregor first met inside the Octagon on August 17, 2013. For McGregor, it was just his second appearance with the promotion. Holloway himself was still a relative newcomer, debuting the year prior at UFC 143.

“I think a lot of fans would love that fight, a lot of fans been asking for that fight,” Holloway continued. “We’ll see what happens you know, at the end of the day it’s not even a weight thing bro. I’d fight him openweight, whatever the commission will tell us, just show up at the weight bro. You don’t have to worry, I’d just like to test him.”

McGregor is slated for a return to the Octagon later this year following a stint on the 31st season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite former Bellator MMA champion ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler. Capturing UFC gold in the featherweight and lightweight divisions, ‘The Notorious’ is expected to make his welterweight debut after bulking up quite a bit during his time away from competition over the last two years.

“Yeah, [I’d fight him at welterweight], just show up,” Hollway confirmed. I guess we got to be close to each other I guess because of all this commission stuff, we could take it to the UFC 1 rules and just show up and fight.”