Max Holloway has, by all accounts, 'gone off on one' about the UFC, Conor McGregor, and in particular José Aldo in a cracking interview with MMA Fighting.
Holloway, who has been calling for a fight with former pound-for-pound king Aldo for the past two years, gave an interesting take on why the now-furious Brazilian, who has claimed he wishes to cancel his UFC contract, was overlooked by the UFC for a fight with Conor McGregor at UFC 205.
McGregor will face Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight strap, and Holloway doesn't blame the UFC for pushing Aldo to one side for now:
The whole thing with Aldo, and everybody thinking he’s the best for 10 years, that he’s unbeaten and the untouchable champ, and all that. Then the whole thing with Conor thing came out, and he got knocked out, and everybody getting pissed off why he didn’t get a rematch after 13 seconds.
These guys need to educate themselves in damn mixed martial arts. How many times has Aldo pulled out of a main event? Not counting the Conor time, how many times before that has Aldo pulled out of a fight? It’s happened a bunch of times.
Aldo has previously pulled of out fights at UFC 125, UFC 149 in Calgary, and UFC 153 in Brazil, and - most famously - his initial fight with McGregor at UFC 189, this after an extensive world tour to promote the scrap.
Holloway is of the opinion that the UFC owes Aldo nothing:
People keep saying Aldo deserves this, he deserves that — how the hell do you deserve something when you pulled out of all these events? And did the UFC ever make an interim title when he did? They held that all the way until they gave the interim title to Conor [at UFC 189], but they did it for a business move, to make for a huge event at UFC 194. People keep forgetting the past, of what Aldo did. How many times did he screw the UFC getting hurt and not fighting in the event and the UFC scrambling around and they’ve got to find new fighters for the event or scratch his fight?
People say 13 seconds… Who the fuck wants to see the rematch after 13 seconds? I sure as hell don’t want to see it.
Holloway hasn’t lost a bout since McGregor defeated him via unanimous decision in 2013, with the Irishman damaging his ACL and forcing the contest to the floor, where he dominated. Holloway was just 21 years old at the time, and has since rattled off nine consecutive victories - scalping such names as Cub Swanson, Charles Oliveira, Jeremy Stephens and Ricardo Lamas, who were all top-10 ranked opponents.
The Hawaiian told MMA Fighting of his deep frustration at not landing his own title shot, or signature fight, that would allow him to further his career within the organisation, before revealing that he still wants a rematch with McGregor over a fight with José Aldo.
People say Aldo’s not running, motherfucker just said in an interview that he wants to fight [Anthony] Pettis and not me, because Pettis is an easy fight. If that’s not fucking picking and dodging and running from a fight, I don’t know what the fuck is.
But if I got to choose, I would want to fight McGregor. I’m the only motherfucker to give him a hard time at 45, and everybody is like, oh my god, he tore his ACL, and I’m like, you motherfuckers, you guys are just as stupid as shit, to believe this guy tore his ACL and fought me for one-and-a-half rounds…fought me with a torn ACL? There’s no fucking way.
It's a fascinating interview with 'Blessed', and one which has a lot more foul-mouthed ranting than expressed above. For the full thing, where he elaborates on his memories of his fight with McGregor and explains why he thinks an Aldo fight is a possibility, head to MMA Fighting.
