Conor McGregor SLAPS Max Holloway during heated face-off

Conor McGregor brought the energy to his first face-off with Max Holloway as the Irishman lashed out at his rival ahead of their rematch

Conor McGregor threw a punch at Max Holloway as the rivals faced off for the first time.

McGregor will return to the UFC this weekend when he takes on Holloway in a rematch of their 2013 clash which the Irishman won on points. The Dubliner has not fought since broke his leg at the end of the first round of his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier five years ago.

McGregor is convinced he can recapture his glory days which saw him capture featherweight and lightweight titles. But he has won just one fight in a decade and has never been far from controversial headlines during his time on the sidelines. There was, however, a glimmer of the old version as he vowed to KO Holloway.

And after their press conference, McGregor raced to the centre of the stage for the face-off, throwing a punch at Holloway before the two locked heads. Earlier, McGregor had said: “I predict destruction. I’m going to destroy Max; I’m going to eliminate Max. The final opponent of mine still within the UFC ranks. All of my other opponents are gone. Max is the last one left, and on Saturday night, he gets eliminated for good.

“I can destroy Max inside 10 seconds. I have knockouts inside three seconds on my fighting record. I have Hall of Fame fighters, multiple Hall of Fame UFC fighters defeated and destroyed both together and under a minute. And I can add Max to that. However, don’t get it twisted. If we go into these deep waters, Max is going to be in a lot of trouble, badly concussed.”

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