Ian Machado Garry has weighed in on Conor McGregor’s high-profile rematch with Max Holloway, set to headline UFC 329 on July 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
McGregor returns after a five-year layoff to face Holloway in the main event, more than a decade after their first meeting at featherweight in 2013, which McGregor won by unanimous decision. This time, Holloway will be making his 170-pound debut against McGregor, who has already competed three times at welterweight.
Garry sees the move to welterweight as a crucial factor for McGregor. "It's not an easy fight," he said, before expanding on Holloway’s credentials: "Max is very good at what he does. He's obviously been in there against the best guys in the world repeatedly over and over and over again. But, whilst Conor has been inactive, the hunger will start to thrive in his mind and in his skull. And at 170 pounds, I think this fight is very, very interesting. Conor is going to have the knockout power."
Breaking down their styles, Garry remarked, "Max Holloway is more like an Uzi when he fights," praising Holloway’s pace and output while contrasting it with McGregor’s single-shot danger. "The consistency, the significant strike numbers he has are out of this world. It's always in your face. It's constant movement. It's touch, touch, go. Touch, touch, move, advance. It's constant activity. But he doesn't have that one-punch power, that shotgun. That's what Conor has."
"Conor has always had that shotgun. If that left hand lands, it's game over, and he is laser focused with it. ... If one of them lands, fight's over. If I'm Conor, and I'm walking into that first round and I enter the middle of that octagon and Max hasn't started to instantly put the pace on him, I'd walk his ass down. I'd put his back to the cage, I'd go high, I'd go low, I'd keep him guessing, and I'd put everything straight down the middle. Just boom, and sneak one around the corner when he doesn't expect it. That's it, goodnight. It's a good fight for both of them. When you look at the state of the UFC over the last couple of months, you can't say that anybody is going to win."
Garry, currently 17-1 in MMA and 10-1 in the UFC, is scheduled to challenge Islam Makhachev for the welterweight title in the UFC 330 headliner on Aug. 15 in Philadelphia.
