Andrew Ravens
Alexander Volkanovski has offered a prediction for Conor McGregor‘s return at UFC 329 on July 11 in Las Vegas, warning Max Holloway against underestimating McGregor early while also suggesting the five-year layoff will ultimately work against the returning former champion as the fight progresses.
Speaking to MMA Junkie, the UFC featherweight champion acknowledged that McGregor’s natural gifts do not simply disappear after time away from competition, but drew a distinction between his early-fight danger and his ability to sustain that level across a full 25 minutes against a fighter of Holloway’s quality.
“Conor hasn’t been in the game for a long time, and I think a lot of people are thinking that he’s just going to lose everything, but that’s not the case,” Volkanovski said. “He’s going to be dangerous. He’s obviously still going to be very sharp, very explosive, still got a good eye. Is it the exact eye he had when he was double champ and doing what he was doing? No, probably not. But, still going to be very dangerous, and I know Max is going to respect that. I know they’re going to want to put on a show, but at the same time, you’re going to know Conor is going to be very dangerous early.”
Volkanovski’s read on how Holloway should approach the fight reflects a level of strategic thinking that goes beyond simply favoring one fighter over the other.
“I think Max will make the right decisions to not just get into the fire straight away, and then start to work him later in the rounds. We know Conor is very dangerous, very explosive, but that is going to wear on you, and with that big layoff, even though he’s probably training very hard, we know that that’s going to eventually wear on him and that sharpness that I reckon he still has is probably going to deteriorate a lot quicker because he’s been out of the game for so long.”
McGregor, who holds a record of 22-6 in MMA and 10-4 in the UFC, enters the fight as a sizable underdog against Holloway, who is 27-9 in MMA and 23-9 in the UFC. The two previously met in August 2013, with McGregor winning a unanimous decision. The rematch will mark McGregor’s first appearance inside the octagon in five years, following the broken leg he suffered against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.
