Conor McGregor claims he is the “greatest Featherweight since Bruce Lee” ahead of UFC 329

Conor McGregor Instagram pre UFC 329

Conor McGregor is set to make his return to the octagon this weekend as part of UFC 329 to face Max Holloway in a rematch. The fight will be at 170lbs/Welterweight, two divisions up from where Holloway usually fights at Featherweight but a division McGregor has fought in before.

McGregor is also a former UFC Featherweight Champion, and while speaking to ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto during UFC 329 fight week, ‘Notorious’ said that he should be considered in the conversation when it comes to the greatest 145-pound fighters ever:

“This ranking system for the greatest featherweights, I’ve beaten these men and haven’t been in the list. How have I beaten these men easily, and handily, and yet been kept from the list? What is the skill? Who is the greatest? Who is the best? It is me, and the results show this. It’s not like the fights weren’t there, it was just elsewhere. It was divisional changes, which originally was not me! It was a fighter pulling out and things of that nature that led to it. I understand it, but I don’t agree with it. I am the greatest featherweight since Bruce Lee, and Saturday night I will show it.”

credit to Bloody Elbow for the transcription

UFC 329 McGregor vs Holloway

There are a few different elements of Conor McGregor vs Max Holloway 2 that make it more intriguing (especially because it is at welterweight and not Lightweight). The Irish star hasn’t had his hand raised since January 2020 (against Donald Cerrone) and he is coming off of a five-year layoff, but as noted, Holloway is moving up two weight classes to get this fight (from featherweight to welterweight). Granted, McGregor’s prior win over Holloway was back in August 2013 and both fighters have changed dramatically since then, but you know full well that McGregor will be bringing that up every second he can pre-fight to get in Holloway’s head.

I’ve already done a full preview and breakdown of McGregor vs Holloway, which you can check our here. 

Jake Skudder
Jake Skudder

Jake is the Head of Audience at F4WOnline, having previously worked as a Combat Sports, Gaming and Pro Wrestling writer, successful Editor in Chief and Sports Coordinator for NationalWorld. He has more than ten years of experience covering mixed martial arts, pro wrestling, football and gaming across a number of publications, starting at SEScoops in 2012. His work has also been featured on Wrestling Headlines, Wrestlingnewsco, HotNewHipHop and The Hard Times.

Previously, he worked as the Editor in Chief of 24Wrestling, building the site profile with a view to selling the domain, which was accomplished in 2019. Jake was previously the Editor in Chief for FightFans, a combat sports and pro wrestling site that was launched in January 2021 and broke into millions of pageviews within the first two years. He previously worked for Snack Media and their GiveMeSport site, creating Evergreen and Trending content that would deliver pageviews via Google as the UFC and MMA SEO Lead. Jake managed to take an area of GiveMeSport that had zero traction on Organic and push it to audiences across the globe. Jake also has a record of long-term video and written interview content with the likes of the Professional Fighters League, ONE and Cage Warriors, working directly with the brands to promote bouts, fighters and special events.

He previously also worked for PROGRESS Wrestling, as PR Head and Head of Media across the social channels of the company.