Tag: Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega

While he doesn’t have a title defense scheduled as of now, UFC 170-pound champion Tyron Woodley has been keeping his name in the headlines with his varied opinions on topics ranging from the rumored creation of an interim 170-pound title to boxing great Floyd Mayweather’s chances in his rumored MMA debut.

‘The Chosen One’ thinks Mayweather could one day be successful in mixed martial arts, but many close to the UFC, including UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway, tend to disagree.

‘Blessed’ unveiled his feelings on the subject during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, suggesting that the 41-year-old ‘Money’ wasn’t really going to fight in the UFC:

“In boxing, he’s greatest. There’s no hate towards him. He finished smart, he made a lot of money, he changed the sport in a lot of ways, and he got there using his brains and being smart … and not being humiliated.

“You guys really believe this guy is going to take an MMA fight, at however old he is right now, against a young guy that’s tough who people consider one of the best in the sport? It just blows my mind, man. If people believe that kind of stuff, it’s wild. I really don’t know what to say.”

For some reason, ‘Money’ has been rumored to make his UFC debut since he finished UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor in the tenth round of their farcical, over-the-top boxing spectacle last August.

The all-time great kicked off that talk by posting a cryptic video of himself setting foot into an MMA cage and claiming he could sign a monstrous contract with the UFC.

Woodley fanned those flames by stating Mayweather would be successful in MMA on UFC Tonight, and he’s consistently kept up the talk on other shows like his own ‘Hollywood Beatdown’ on TMZ.

“Blessed” is a fan of “The Chosen One,” but he thinks the 1700-pound king is getting a little ridiculous with the hype, so much so that he wonders if Woodley is a UFC champion or a “TMZ reporter”:

“I mean, I love Woodley,” Holloway said. “Woodley’s the man. He’s a great dude, but I swear he talks about everything. He’s talking about everything. Whatever you can talk about, he talks about it. That guy is always on TMZ or something, so he wants to be talked about all of the time, that’s it. Woodley, you are the man, brother, but I think it’s a PR stunt.

“How can you not think it’s not a PR stunt? I don’t know. This guy is always — every time I see on Twitter something retweeting about TMZ, it’s Tyron Woodley talking about it. So it’s like, gosh, is this guy a champion or is he a TMZ reporter? What is going on, my friend?”

As he picks and chooses his opponent during a recovery from shoulder surgery, Woodley isn’t making any new fans even though he has, in reality, been one of the most consistent and active UFC champions over the past two years.

And even though Holloway claims he’s one of them, the featherweight champion may have a throng of fans who agree wholeheartedly with his callout of “The Chosen One.”

Do you?

The post Max Holloway Goes Off On “TMZ Reporter” Tyron Woodley appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Conor McGregor is still on the sidelines reaping the monetary windfall of his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather last year, but his longtime striking coach is still speculating about a fight that’s most likely far off.

McGregor has been linked to a rematch with Mayweather in the UFC octagon, but his most likely return bout (at least hopefully) is an awaited title unification bout with the winner of April 7’s Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov UFC 223 main event.

With featherweight champion Max Holloway, whom McGregor outlasted by unanimous decision at 2013’s UFC Fight Night 26, apparently owning the inactive ‘Notorious’ on social media as of late, McGregor’s longtime striking coach Owen Roddy discussed a potential rematch with ‘Blessed’ during a recent spot on Submission Radio (transcribed by MMA Fighting) and offered a less-than-surprising prediction.

According to Roddy, Holloway, who won the featherweight title from legendary champion Jose Aldo last June and defended it against him again last December, is now a bit overconfident in his skills and would ‘go to sleep’ were he to face McGregor again:

“I think Conor would probably put Max away,” Roddy said. “I think Max would probably be way more confident in his ability, and if you go in there a little bit overconfident with Conor you’re gonna go to sleep. Whereas, he was a little bit more… he stood back in the first fight — and obviously Conor injured himself, he couldn’t put him away — but yeah, I think it would be a great fight.

“Max has done, he’s done so well since the Conor fight. He’s been on a tear, and even John Kavanagh said it back in the day, he called that Max would have been the next champion after that fight with Conor. You could see it in Max, and I think everyone sees it. He’s a great fighter, but I think Conor’s on another level compared to him as well.”

McGregor was briefly linked to a supposed short-notice bout with Franke Edgar after Holloway was forced out of March 3’s UFC 222 with a leg injury, but the validity of him offering his services at the last minute was disputed by Edgar’s manager Al Abdel-Aziz, who claimed McGregor wanted the UFC to book him for a new 165-pound belt in order to compete on the card.

Roddy disputed that and said McGregor was excited to potentially fight Edgar, and indeed the infamous Irish superstar has claimed he will return to fight again because he’s ‘the best.’

With many doubting – and growing extremely tired of – his boasts as his streak without a title defense pushes closer to three years, McGregor and his camp seemingly need to give fans something of substance rather than endless interviews claiming he would beat this or that top contender.

As Dana White loves to say, we’ll see what happens.

The post Coach: Conor McGregor ‘Puts Max Holloway Away’ In Rematch appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.