‘You’re not going to lay a glove on me’: Conor McGregor, Max Holloway trade insults in first face-to-face showdown ahead of UFC 329

BOSTON, MA - AUGUST 16: (L-R) Opponents Conor McGregor and Max Holloway face off during the UFC weigh-in inside TD Garden on August 16, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) | Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Conor McGregor is finally making his return to action at UFC 329 and he wasted no time turning up the heat when it comes to the verbal warfare with opponent Max Holloway.Despite a five-year long absence and returning from a gruesome broken leg, McGregor sounded like he didn’t skip a beat when it came to his trash talk as he sounded off on Holloway after already beating him in their first encounter back in 2013.

While that fight feels like a lifetime ago, McGregor took issue with the way Holloway was almost excused for losing because he was still so young at the time and only afterwards went on a historic run to become featherweight champion.“People claim this man to be the No. 1 pound-for-pound featherweight of all time when I son’d him at that weight,” McGregor said during a face-to-face encounter with Holloway.

“Do you know that I’ve listened to people throughout the years say ‘Holloway was only a kid back then’ and I was not when myself and Max faced [off] for the first time.“Max had his sixth UFC fight. He was my second.

In Boston, I calmly put these big Irish balls on your face and I’m going to do it again.”For his part, Holloway stayed calm, cool and collected with McGregor effectively shouting at him as he took a page out of the Irishman’s book and made a bold prediction of his own.In fact, Holloway even adopted his own version of McGregor’s “Mystic Mac” nickname after the Irish superstar was made famous for calling his shots in the UFC.

“Welcome to the Mystic Max era,” Holloway said. “Welcome back. Mystic Max is here.

Return of the Max July 11. A bunch of gloves is going to get laid on that pretty face. Keep it clean for me.”

Of course, McGregor vehemently disagreed and despite his long layoffs, he promised t