Max Holloway Ungkap Conor McGregor Tolak Penghentian Laga UFC 329

Petarung seni bela diri campuran Max Holloway mengungkapkan bahwa Conor McGregor bersikeras untuk terus bertarung meski mengalami cedera lutut parah pada ronde pertama laga utama UFC 329 di T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, pada Sabtu, 11 Juli 2026.

Pertarungan kelas welter tersebut langsung dihentikan oleh wasit Mike Beltran dalam waktu satu menit setelah lutut Conor McGregor cedera akibat melepaskan tendangan memutar yang meleset dari sasaran.

Kemenangan singkat ini membuat Max Holloway mengamankan catatan kemenangan serta bayaran terbesar sepanjang kariernya tanpa menerima kerusakan fisik yang berarti dari sang lawan.

Dilansir dari MMAmania.com, Max Holloway membahas situasi pertarungan yang tidak biasa tersebut dalam sebuah wawancara pasca-acara bersama Megan Olivi di saluran YouTube Paramount+.

"A win is a win, you know? A couple of people got wins over me that kinda piss me off. But at the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, they’re gonna go down and look in the history books.

They’re just gonna look at a piece of paper and see a W next to your name. So that’s what I’m taking it as." kata Max Holloway, petarung UFC.

Holloway kemudian menyatakan keinginannya untuk mengadakan pertandingan ulang ketiga guna merasakan kekuatan penuh dari McGregor di kelas 170 pon jika pemulihan cedera lawannya berjalan lancar.

"I had him weak in the knees. What can I say? At the end of the day, it is what it is.

We gotta do a third. Hopefully, his injury not too crazy. I know he was saying that they wanted him back in April.

I can do that. That’d be fun. I wanna actually feel this 170 weight and power that he says he has.

So maybe we can do it back." ujar Max Holloway.

Di luar persaingan di dalam oktagon, Holloway menyampaikan rasa simpati serta doa untuk kesembuhan kondisi fisik rivalnya tersebut.

"Just right now, I’m just praying for the guy. All jokes aside, as as a human being." tutur Max Holloway.

Holloway juga membeberkan interaksinya dengan wasit dan McGregor di dalam oktagon saat cedera tersebut pertama kali terjadi di awal ronde.

"When I was in there, you could see me telling the ref, ‘Bro, this guy is done. Just [stop it].’ And the referee was telling me, ‘Bro, thank you for pushing me because that was a hard spot.’

And Conor’s crazy. Conor was like, ‘Fight! Fight!

I was like, ‘You’re f--king crazy, bro.”" ungkap Max Holloway.

Menurut Holloway, perubahan sikap dan ekspresi wajah McGregor langsung terlihat jelas begitu ia terjatuh untuk kedua kalinya.

"For the first one when he first fell down, he was like, ‘Fight! Fight!’ I’m good.

And [then] we went down at the same time. I could just tell. Like, his whole demeanor changed.

I was like, ‘Bro, just call the fight,’ you know?" jelas Max Holloway.

Meski Holloway membuka peluang untuk laga ketiga, Presiden UFC Dana White dalam konferensi pers pasca-UFC 329 secara resmi telah menutup kemungkinan digelarnya pertandingan ulang ketiga antara Max Holloway dan Conor McGregor.