Holloway: I'll rematch McGregor at heavyweight if he wants
Max Holloway's list of bounties doesn't end with Jose Aldo.
"Blessed" is set to fight Anthony Pettis for his first taste of UFC gold - an interim featherweight title - in the main event of UFC 206 on Saturday. With the winner expected to meet newly promoted undisputed champ Jose Aldo in a title unification bout next, Holloway could soon sit atop the 145-pound heap, after which he wants to settle a longstanding score.
"First things first, I've got Pettis," Holloway said Friday, according to MMAFighting's Dave Doyle. "But you know, a (Conor) McGregor fight can happen anyway. He said 155, 170, I recently said I'll go ahead and fight heavyweight if he wants to fight heavyweight."
McGregor handed Holloway his last loss all the way back in August 2013, after which the Hawaiian mounted the division's longest winning run with nine. While Holloway was cleaning house, McGregor won both the featherweight and lightweight titles, becoming the UFC's first dual-division champion with a second-round knockout of then-lightweight king Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205.
While McGregor's refusal to commit to a single division earned him some unwelcome detractors, Holloway commended the Irishman's history-making exploits and hopes to accomplish the feat himself.
"I would love to do that. Everybody hates on this guy. For what? If you had this opportunity, you know damn straight that you'd take it. If I had the opportunity, yes, it's history. I want to break history. Like I said before, Conor McGregor set this bar and I'm trying to break it. If you're not trying to break it, then why are you in the game. I'm not trying to be this guy just chugging along, I want to lead the pack. If I got this opportunity you're damn straight I want to fight for two, give me three. Let's make history."
McGregor - out of commission until May - has since been stripped of the featherweight crown, a move that reconfigured the divisional title picture and put Holloway in line for the above-mentioned title shot.
"Blessed" will look to make good on the opportunity in just five days at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.