Jorge Masvidal’s mind is made up on Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway 2, and he feels extremely confident about his pick.
Masvidal, a former two-time UFC title challenger and BMF champion, has Holloway (27-9 MMA, 23-9 UFC) evening out the score against McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 329 – which goes down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Masvidal respects and holds in high regard the tools that McGregor possesses, but he just doesn’t think the Irishman will have the gas tank to use those tools long enough to secure a victory.
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“I think it’s going to be a real fight with Max,” Masvidal said on Deep Waters. “Like I’ve been saying, I’m riding with Max, I’m betting the house on Max. I think Max is going to make it non-competitive. There’s going to be a point after like a minute or two in the fight that Max is going to take over. All the experience that he’s put together in these five years, and staying in shape – that’s the No. 1 thing, as we all know. In this fight, you have a Ferrari vs. a Honda Civic, but the Ferrari has a quarter tank of gas, he’s going to lose every time. I think Max gets it done.”
This McGregor-Holloway rematch has been 13 years in the making. The two first met in 2013 in the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night 26. That night, McGregor defeated Holloway in a unanimous decision. He tore his ACL in the second round and was forced to wrestle Holloway for the majority of the fight.
With this fight being at 170 pounds, and McGregor expected to be the bigger fighter, some have wondered if “The Notorious” will implement a similar strategy this time around. Masvidal doesn’t see that likely, precisely due to the cardio concerns he has for McGregor.
“It’s tough to wrestle like that unless you’ve been preparing like that,” Masvidal said. “Maybe he’s been showing us all this stuff just to (make us) think, ‘Oh, he’s got no chance in this fight,’ and he’s been in Georgia wrestling all these years. Who knows? But that is one of the more energy-draining styles. When you’re striking, it’s just your weight. When you’re wrestling with somebody, you’re moving weight that doesn’t want to be moved, and it drains you. Conor has never been one of these elite grapplers. Although he did beat Max by outwrestling him, I don’t think it’s the right strategy for this fight.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Jorge Masvidal: Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway 2 is ‘Ferrari vs. Honda Civic’
