Everyone who follows the UFC either knows about Conor McGregor or at least has heard his name floating around a few websites. At UFC on Fuel TV 9 earlier this year, McGregor scored a first-round knockout win over Marcus Brimage and immediately declared his desire to fight more and potentially fight at lightweight.
In fact, the UFC already sees a high amount of stock in McGregor, seeing as how his name already appears on the UFC’s return to Boston, which comes on Aug. 17 at UFC Fight Night 26. On that card, McGregor fights touted prospect Max Holloway.
Holloway suffered a controversial split-decision loss to Dennis Bermudez at UFC 160, which halted a three-fight winning streak, and replaces McGregor‘s original foe, Andy Ogle. The bout should provide its share of early fireworks, given their respective striking games, but with all eyes on the “Notorious” one, how high should expectations stand?
Overlook Holloway, and it will cost somebody everything. Remember, the 21-year-old Hawaiian brings an active ground game from off his back and brings a crisp, diverse striking game that not only incorporates body shots, but also a number of moves inspired by some of the best strikers in the game. In other words, he threatens McGregor more than people think.
Still, expectations will remain high for McGregor, and they should. The former two-division Cage Warriors champion subscribes to the belief that he carries more hype than any other Zuffa-contracted athlete. Plus, he knows beating Holloway not only keeps him on track toward earning an eventual UFC featherweight title bout, but it also sets him closer to justifying his hype to where the MMA world views him in a similar light to former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Now with that said, don’t call McGregor “the next Anderson Silva” because no one can or will emulate the head movement, precision, accuracy or clinch work that kept Silva on top of the MMA world for close to seven years. Instead, get excited about what will happen when McGregor enters “Little Ireland” to steal the show alongside Holloway in the sleeper bout of UFC Fight Night 26.
The kid knows the exact waves he wants to make, as well as the way he wants to make them. Now, the pressure falls more on his shoulders to put that plan in motion than it does on him to justify any sort of hype surrounding him.
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