Max Holloway says unwavering confidence is driving him into his rematch with Conor McGregor, as the former featherweight champion prepares to headline UFC 329 on July 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Holloway is set to run it back with McGregor more than a decade after their first meeting, a unanimous decision win for McGregor in a 2013 featherweight bout. Since then, Holloway has defended the UFC featherweight title three times, gone through a three-fight series with Alexander Volkanovski, and captured the BMF title with a last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 before later losing that belt to Charles Oliveira at UFC 326.
Reflecting on the doubts he’s faced, Holloway said, "There was a bunch of people telling me after that fight that I'm not going to be able to do this, I'm not going to be able to do that. Maybe you need to call it quits. A lot of people were telling me I was done in the sport. The beautiful thing I know where I was. You have one off night, it sucks. Having one off night sucks, but if you're having one off night on multiple days, then I understand. That was just one off night. People are going to talk, and you can't listen. I know what it is. I know how great I can be and what I can do. Self-belief just proved it. I've got to do some great things after that Volk fight. After all the Volk fights. After every single Volk fight people told me I was done. After every single Volk fight we fought, people told me I was done. I love proving people wrong."
"Self-belief is one hell of a drug. It's one hell of a drug man," Holloway added, emphasizing that his mindset and work ethic remain central as he heads into UFC 329.
