Conor McGregor showed he’s got the skills to live up to the hype tonight at UFC On FOX Sports 1 as he claimed a comfortable decision victory over Max Holloway.
McGregor throws some low and high kicks early then the occasional swift, slick punching combinations. He looks very relaxed and confident here.
Holloway’s a good striker too, but so far he’s being put on the back foot. McGregor landing with jumping kicks and then following up with punches.
Holloway lands a nice punch with a minute left, his best of the fight so far, but McGregor is unphased and continues to take the fight to him for the remainder of the round with a variety of techniques.
Holloway tries to up his tempo a little in the second, but he’s still not finding his range as successfully as his opponent. Some solid left hands get through for McGregor which bloodies up Holloway’s nose, while he persists with his low and occasional head kicks too.
Mid-way through the round Holloway wades in with a hard body kick that lands, but McGregor catches it and dumps him to the mat. From there he’s able to control his opponent for the remainder of the round from top control showing that there’s more to his game than just striking.
McGregor secures another takedown in the first 30 seconds of the final round. He moves from inside his guard to side control then attempts to get the mount, but Holloway briefly escapes and tries to get upright.
McGregor drags him straight back down to the mat though and this time he does manage to pass to full mount with half the round remaining. McGregor in complete control, but not offering up too much offense.
Holloway tries to roll onto his fornt and McGregor scores with a few strikes before Holloway returns to his back. He shifts again and this time he does get back up.
Holloway looks for a head kick and McGregor stumbles, but resets and claims another takedown, riding out the remaining few seconds on top.
So, no definitive finish from the much-hyped McGregor, but there was plenty to enjoy with his slick striking and some ground skills to boot en-route to a dominant unanimous decision victory (30-27 x2, 30-26).
Interestingly, in his post-fight interview McGregor claimed that during a scramble in the second round he injured his knee which is why he switched to a ground-based approach for the remainder of the fight.
