For Conor McGregor, life leading up to his scheduled return at UFC 329 has definitely been a whirlwind of chaos. His lengthy five-year absence from the sport invited countless controversies and hardships. However, ‘The Notorious’ decided to open up about those struggles ahead of his bout at International Fight Week. For that, his opponent next weekend, Max Holloway, believes McGregor deserves all the respect. 

“Nothing but respect for him,” Holloway told Brett Okamoto of ESPN. “It takes a real man to come out and talk about his feelings, especially in this day and time. Everybody says a man has to be a man’s man. You know, suck it up. Don’t be, you know, whatever they say nowadays. I can’t say what I’m usually told because I’m going to get canceled. But yeah, they’re like, ‘Don’t do that. Don’t do this. You got to be a man. Suck it up and go get it done.’ 

“So, with him, especially with the platform he has and him bringing it up, I think it’s going to encourage more people to talk about it, more guys to maybe go get a mental check or self-check. And, you know, shout out to him for doing that because there are a lot of people who deal with this and don’t know what to do. People probably look up to him and think, ‘What? Conor’s going through this?’ Then that means I can come out and try to tell somebody about it. So, nothing but, you know, applause for him for doing that because it takes a real man to come and talk about one’s feelings.” 

Ahead of his comeback, Conor McGregor openly talked about the past struggles. In a recent interview with Paramount+, the Dublin native admitted that he “got lost” in the stardom after conquering the game at just 27 years of age. He told Ariel Helwani that he had ‘disrespected the position that God had put him in.’

McGregor pointed to becoming the UFC’s first two-division champion and headlining one of the most lucrative boxing fights in history against Floyd Mayweather as the moments that changed everything for him. Still, praise coming from Holloway in this case isn’t surprising.   

Back in 2018, Max Holloway had to withdraw from his title defense against Brian Ortega at UFC 226 because of severe health issues. Addressing that, ‘Blessed’ told The Mac Life in a 2019 interview that the Irishman was the one who “tried to make people aware” that fighters also go through difficult moments in their careers. That said, when it comes to McGregor’s recent comeback, Holloway isn’t the only one who has spoken positively about it. 

Alongside the former featherweight champion, Jon Jones has also praised McGregor for putting his struggles behind him and finally making his comeback. In an interview with Red Corner MMA, ‘Bones’ observed how Conor McGregor doesn’t actually need to fight anymore because he already has “everything.” Still, the former two-division champion is impressed that the Irishman has chosen to return to the Octagon, and Jones believes it shows McGregor is still “a fighter at heart.” 

Conor McGregor is finally receiving support from his fellow UFC fighters ahead of his comeback. Now, it would be interesting to see how the UFC star actually performs when he finally steps back into the Octagon in less than a week.