UFC
UFC 194's Max Holloway thinks he and Conor McGregor have "unfinished business" at featherweight
Sep 4, 2015 - 12:40:28 PM UFC 194's Max Holloway thinks he and Conor McGregor have "unfinished business" at featherweight

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Conor McGregor said this week that he's planning to defeat Jose Aldo at UFC 194 and then quickly move to the lightweight division, but there are other fighters in the featherweight field who think he needs to stick around.

Chief among them is Max Holloway, whom McGregor defeated in 2013. However, that fight went to a decision, with both suffering injuries, and Holloway thinks things aren't settled between the two of them.

"Our last fight, I got no excuses, but everybody saying he fought me on one leg and that's why he didn't finish me. Well, let's run it back," the 23-year-old argued in an interview with FoxSports.com. "Most people didn't know I got injured in the first 30 seconds and he got injured in the last couple of seconds in the second round and the last time I checked he's been finishing everybody in under two rounds. So what's his excuse for not being able to do that to me?

"It must drive him crazy that I'm the guy he couldn't finish. Let's run it back and let's do it. I'm down for that fight."

With McGregor stopping everyone else he's faced except for him, Holloway thinks it should be a fight the Irishman wants again anyway, and thinks McGregor isn't finished in the division until they fight again.

"All I'm going to say is Conor goes around and he talks a lot and he talks about everybody in the division except for one guy, and that's Max Holloway," he said. "You can go ask Conor how he thinks the fight would turn out. The fight would be 100 percent more entertaining than the last one. We both had injuries so let's see what happens this time.

"I respect Conor but at the end of the day he talks about his left hand cracking people and they fall down. When you look at our fight, I remember one guy falling down and it wasn't me," he continued. "We'll see what happens. I think that eats him up that he didn't get the finish. I do recall him saying at the post-fight press conference saying that he felt he lost the fight with the way he performed so why wouldn't he want to avenge a loss? Let's do it.

"...He still has to get past Jose first so one step at a time. But all I'm saying is don't go running from the division yet. You've got a lot of unfinished business. We've got unfinished business."

Penick's Analysis: A rematch between the two would be a very good fight for that title in a year if they both continue winning. If Holloway beats Jeremy Stephens, then another fighter to run to nine straight wins, and if McGregor beats Aldo and then presumably Frankie Edgar sometime next spring, a McGregor-Holloway title fight works. That's a lot of "ifs," of course, and both fighters need to pick up a couple of difficult wins to set it up, but that's something that really does work for featherweight next year if McGregor sticks around.