Shots Fired… Max Holloway is in Ireland And Has Taken Aim at Conor McGregor With One of the Most Intelligent Burns We’ve Ever Seen… It Truly is the ‘Blessed’ Era…
What an incredible year it was for Max Holloway. The Hawaiian fighter fought just once in 2018, after recovering from a career-threatening concussion-related injury. He took on Brian Ortega at Toronto’s UFC 231 to defend his UFC featherweight championship for the second time. There is no doubt that ‘Blessed’ is the best fighter at 145lbs in the world right now.
So it’s onwards and upwards for the 27-year-old from here. He’s got one of the longest winning streaks in the UFC with 13 straight victories. His last defeat came back in 2013 when he lost to Conor McGregor in Boston. Now, he’s in the Irishman’s home town on a visit.
Fans were quick to note Holloway’s presence in Dublin, Ireland, as he has been linked to a rematch at lightweight against the Notorious. He very cleverly took a shot at McGregor on social media, by aiming a dig at his whiskey.
238 years of innovation, hard work, and unmatched quality. Not a watered down trend. A true pillar of Ireland, supporting the hard working families in Dublin for generations. Thank you @jamesonwhiskey for the hospitality. The number one Irish whiskey in the world #sinemetu pic.twitter.com/9fVzu9Lvic
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) January 26, 2019
Number One
Proper Twelve might be Conor McGregor’s Irish whiskey of choice, but only one label can be number one in the eyes of Max Holloway. He went on a tour of the Jameson Whiskey museum in Dublin the other day and had nothing but positive things to say about the most popular Irish whiskey in the world. He wrote in a tweet:
“238 years of innovation, hard work, and unmatched quality. Not a watered down trend. A true pillar of Ireland, supporting the hard working families in Dublin for generations. Thank you
@jamesonwhiskey for the hospitality. The number one Irish whiskey in the world#sinemetu“
With over 48 million bottles of Jameson sold across the world in 2018, Proper Twelve will have to do a lot to try and threaten the whiskey stalwart’s place on the market. No wonder Conor McGregor is retweeting every fanboy who wants to share to the world that they’ve bought a bottle. If you want real good Irish whiskey, try Writer’s Tears, Green Spot or Midleton.
Pride
Holloway was always impressed by a visit to Croke Park. The biggest stadium in Ireland, it is the headquarters of the nation’s two national sports of Gaelic football and hurling. Both of these games are played at county level (there are 32 in Ireland, 26 in the Republic and 6 in Northern Ireland), and at a local level. All players are amateur, although the very best will receive individual sponsorships. Holloway said:
“Croke Park seats 82,000 and they play Irish football, hurling, hand ball and rounders here. There is no pay even at highest levels so players have their own jobs. Teams are the counties you from so when you get older you compete against the same people you did as kids. Amateur sports but not really exhibition matches.
Just about having the pride to represent the best of your community by competing against the best. Thank you @crokepark_official for sharing the history of Croker with me and teaching me about sportsmanship in Ireland.”
Rematch?
Croke Park is also where Conor McGregor used to say he would have his stadium fight. Of course, a number of factors are likely to prevent this from ever happening. The first and foremost is that the time difference between the main US market and Ireland is too big. The fight would have to be late at night, which would be almost impossible to get past local residents.
However, Holloway and McGregor could well be a rematch that we see in the near future. ‘Blessed’ seems destined to rise up a division to lightweight and the Hawaiian champion could well be a mainstream breakout star in 2019 if he capitalizes on his momentum. Watch this space.
