UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway said that a fight with Conor McGregor is still possible following his loss to Dustin Poirier in April.
Holloway was defeated by Poirier via unanimous decision with the Diamond claiming the interim UFC lightweight title as a result.
Poirier will now fight lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in a unification bout in Abu Dhabi in September which makes a rematch with the Louisiana native quite difficult for Holloway.
The loss to Poirier cost the Hawaiian a shot at becoming a two-weight world champion but Holloway still feels that a fight with Nurmagomedov and McGregor is still very much possible.
“The Khabib fight is still there,” Holloway told ESPN.
“I think the Khabib fight is still there. The fans still want the Khabib fight which is very interesting. The Irishman fight, if he ever figures it out, that fight is still there. There’s a lot of interesting things to do. 155 [pound weight division] is not that far.
“In April I told you guys that I was going to come back to 145 no matter what happened. We’re now and I want to come back to 145 in the summer and that’s the plan. I ain’t got nothing but time.”
What did Max Holloway really lose from his April defeat to Dustin Poirier? In his mind, not much. “Khabib is still there. The Irishman is still there.” pic.twitter.com/6VsRv8AdTv
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 10, 2019
McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh said in April that he’d be very surprised if McGregor does not fight again and added that he’s seen a resurgence in his passion for fighting over the last few months.
“Training MMA is fun but training for professional fighting is very, very tough,” Kavaangh said on The Late Late Show.
“It’s very tough on the body. Usually, your motivation for those things is to win a world title or to make some money; and he’s done those things.
“I found it hard to see what was going to motivate him to keep going and keep putting himself through that grind. I have seen a bit of a resurgence in his passion and his love for it and I think if the right contest comes along, something that is interesting to him, something that will get the crowd going, I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t fight again and it could even be this summer.”
