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MMA

07th Jul 2018

Max Holloway responds to Conor McGregor’s message of support following health issue

McGregor deleted his initial tweet to the UFC champion

Ben Kiely

When Max Holloway was removed from UFC 226, everyone experienced a rollercoaster of emotion

Firstly, there was despair over the featherweight title fight between Max Holloway and Brian Ortega being scrapped. ‘T-City’ called it the biggest 145 lb title fight since McGregor vs Aldo, and he may well have been right. It’s very rare that you get a challenger with a pristine record and finish rate like Ortega’s take on a champion on a win streak like Holloway’s. The fact that both men are in their mid-20s made this even more of a unicorn fight.

Then, the mood quickly changed to concern. When that statement got released detailing Holloway’s ‘concussion-like symptoms,’ the fight suddenly didn’t feel so important. All that mattered was the champion’s health.

This is almost definitely why McGregor sent the following tweet. He swiftly deleted it after hitting send. Although he is dead right. There are more important things in life than trying to fill a slot on a card.

Max Holloway

A brief bout of confused anger over the proposed interim title replacement fight has passed. Now, we can all feel a sense of relief.

Holloway took to Twitter on Friday night to issue a statement. He apologised to Ortega and the fans. ‘Blessed’ also gave props to Frankie Edgar and Jeremy Stephens for accepting the interim fight call. That proposed match-up came together too late and instead, the welterweight scrap between Mike Perry and Paul Felder was moved up to the main card.

Holloway responded to McGregor’s second tweet of support on the matter. He even referenced a famous John Kavanagh quote before correcting his mistake with the Irish flag.

He also thanked Michael Bisping for raising concerns about his health on UFC Tonight.

It’s great to see the champ being witty on social media again.

Get well soon, Holloway.