Respected trainer Firas Zahabi of Tri-Star gym lit a fire underneath Conor McGregor warm enough to get him posting on social media in retaliation. In a recent Q&A, Zahabi stated that in a rematch he believed current UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway would win this time around (via MMAJunkie).
Holloway has grown leaps and bounds since then. Holloway would outpunch him, outwork him. He would do very much what (Nate) Diaz did, but more. I think McGregor got away with a lot of stuff, like the leg kicks against Diaz, but I don’t think he’ll have that against Holloway.
Then he made the claim that the cliched “blueprint” for beating someone can now be applied to McGregor. Essentially claiming that Khabib Nurmagomedov and Nate Diaz showed the guaranteed path to victory over the Irishman.
Holloway has the same type of output as Diaz, the same kind of chin as Diaz. He’s more athletic than Diaz, he has more variety in his attacks, he has more kicking, kneeing and elbowing, and his chin is just phenomenal. So I really think he would take it in the later rounds. I think the blueprint for beating McGregor is more well understood by the roster.
This sent McGregor clackety-clacking on his keyboard in response.
What do you think? Can Holloway beat McGregor in a rematch? What do you think of Conor’s response?