Max Holloway grabbed the headlines in and out of the octagon during his stay on “Fight Island” in January.
The former featherweight champion made all the noise when he put on a remarkable performance against a very tough and durable Calvin Kattar in the main event of UFC on ABC 1, but he didn’t stop there.
Holloway (22-6 MMA, 18-6 UFC) then stayed in Abu Dhabi to serve as the backup for the rematch between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor at UFC 257, and the Hawaiian put himself on McGregor’s radar in unexpected fashion.
During my interview with McGregor for UFC Arabia, “Hiker Holloway” was skateboarding about outside our window, and a laughing McGregor couldn’t help but notice.
Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) spots Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) skateboarding outside 🛹 during our interview 😄 #UFC257
Full interview for @UFCarabia: https://t.co/VIuFyBcq8z pic.twitter.com/uDL03PlapC
— Farah Hannoun (@Farah_Hannoun) January 20, 2021
But Holloway explains that while he didn’t know it was McGregor in that room, he fully intended on getting the interviewee’s attention.
And it absolutely worked.
“We were with the boys, with the team, and I was on my skateboard and we know that’s where you do interviews, right? So I didn’t know who was in it, but I was like, ‘If someone’s interviewing, I’m gonna act like an idiot passing the whole window,'” Holloway grinned. “So I was doing stupid stuff like this (flails arms around) the whole time when I was riding past and, of course, it’s Conor’s interview, so it was just funny.”
Though McGregor would end up losing to Poirier at UFC 257, Holloway isn’t ruling out the possibility of a rematch with the Irishman sometime down the line. The story between the pair continues to build nicely from their first fight, which saw McGregor claim a unanimous decision win at UFC Fight Night 26 in August 2013, and Holloway said a rematch simply comes down to a matter of timing.
“The UFC had that fight on a very short list, I believe, and the beautiful thing about this sport is time,” Holloway added. “Timing is everything and you know this so we’ll see what happens. I don’t want to kick the man when he’s down or talk about him, so let him figure out his stuff, and I’ll be right here. Timing is everything in this sport, so we’ll see what happens.”
The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.
