World reknowned coach Firas Zahabi has weighed in with a prediction about what would happen if featherweight champion Max Holloway was to fight Conor McGregor again in the UFC, and the Irishman isn’t happy about it.
McGregor defeated Holloway by decision in only his second fight in the UFC despite injuring his knee and having to rely on wrestling from midway through the fight.
Since then McGregor has gone on to be a superstar and held both the featherweight and lightweight belts, while Holloway has racked up a hugely impressive 13 fight winning streak that’s pegged him at No.4 on the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings – four places above McGregor.
As such there’s increasing interest in a rematch between the two, and Zahabi, who trains GSP and runs the Tristar gym, has suggested Holloway would emerge victorious.
“Holloway has grown leaps and bounds since then,” Zahabi said during a YouTube Q&A. “Holloway would outpunch him, outwork him. He would do very much what (Nate) Diaz did, but more. I think McGregor got away with a lot of stuff, like the leg kicks against Diaz, but I don’t think he’ll have that against Holloway.
“Holloway has the same type of output as Diaz, the same kind of chin as Diaz. He’s more athletic than Diaz, he has more variety in his attacks, he has more kicking, kneeing and elbowing, and his chin is just phenomenal. So I really think he would take it in the later rounds. I think the blueprint for beating McGregor is more well understood by the roster.”
Apparently McGregor was none to pleased by these comments as he took to social media to put him on blast afterwards.
“Hey firaz,” McGregor wrote on Instagram. “Young man afraid to get in and fight, himself. Stop talking about me like you know me, you twerp.
You are what age? Why are not in there yourself? Are you not up to it?
You rent dorms and hit a clock for a living.
Shut your pie, kid.”
McGregor may also be smarting at the fact that Zahabi has constantly predicted against him during his time in the UFC, having picked Chad Mendes, Nate Diaz (x2) and Eddie Alvarez to defeat him in the past.
