"Why Isn't McGregor Fighting This Saturday Instead Of Holloway?!" Is An Incredibly Dumb Take That People Need To Stop Having

Ever since last night, when it was announced that Tony Ferguson would have to pull out of his fourth scheduled bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov and UFC Featherweight Champion Max Holloway would be stepping in, my mentions have been flooded with folk asking why Conor McGregor didn’t take this fight. People all across the internet were letting me know they heard he was “Staying ready” just in case anything were to happen to this fight, so he could step in and claim his Lightweight Championship, and that he’s a pussy for not being the one to face Khabib this weekend. I barely know where to start with that mindset, because two seconds of logical thinking would make you realize that would be a horrible decision, and not even by the Notorious one…by the UFC.

If you put a gun to my head and asked me if I thought Dana White offered this fight to McGregor, I’d say no. It’s not even a question of whether or not Conor wanted the fight, or whether or not he would’ve taken it. The question is, was it even an option on the table? If McGregor stepped in last night, he’s set up to fail in his return against the biggest threat he’s ever seen, the UFC isn’t able to do any promotion surrounding what would be their biggest pay-per-view of the year, and all of the tickets are sold already so they can’t get even a slight gate bump. It would make zero, and I mean ZERO sense for Conor McGregor to make his return to the octagon on six days notice against Khabib Nurmagomedov.

I could almost say the same about Max Holloway re: making zero sense, but he’s not the draw McGregor is and also has nothing to lose. He’s going up to a weight class that isn’t his with the opportunity to make it his. He loses and he’s still the badass mothafucka who stepped in against Khabib on less than a week’s notice. He’s also still the UFC Featherweight Champ. It makes sense…and it could happen. Holloway’s takedown defense is LEGIT. As legit as legit gets. His cardio and endurance, the same. I don’t think he’ll be a pushover for The Eagle AT ALL.