Jorge Masvidal thinks Conor McGregor is in for a rough return at UFC 329.
McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) will fight for the first time in five years when he meets Max Holloway (27-9 MMA, 23-9 UFC) in the main event of the July 11 card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+). “The Notorious” is a sizeable underdog going into the fight, and Masvidal thinks that’s on point.
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“I think Max smokes him like a brisket,” Masvidal said on Paramount’s “Deep Waters” podcast. “I don’t think Max has gotten bad where certain fighters have been around for so long where they’re not the same. Max had a good fight with Charles (Oliveira). Max is still Max, I think. Still think he can go out there and win a world title, do a lot of things. I think it’s a bad fight for Conor, confidence or no confidence.”
McGregor’s ability to return and fight at the highest level will be a prime focus of pre-fight narratives. Masvidal said he has not observed a person who done the right things while out of the cage to make his comeback successful.
“Conor lives a certain lifestyle that we’ve all seen and you can kind of tell it’s not (good),” Masvidal said. “Max lives a complete different lifestyle. I’ve never seen Max at a club drunk. I’ve never seen him in a headline doing anything bad. That guy lives a different life where it’s gym, family, gym, family. I think that’s going to pay the biggest difference. You can be away from the sport for five years like nothing happened, if you live that life.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Jorge Masvidal: Max Holloway smokes Conor McGregor ‘like a brisket’
