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Holloway won't let McGregor get away with barbs, but isn't angling for rematch

Gregory Shamus / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Max Holloway may not share the cage with Conor McGregor again anytime soon, but that doesn't mean he'll let the Irishman's barbs go unanswered.

McGregor has fired several shots at his former conquest on Twitter over the past several months, and Holloway has proven a worthy adversary with some well-crafted zingers of his own. The reigning featherweight champ claims to have fielded some criticism from McGregor diehards in response to their exchanges - most notably for poking fun at McGregor's Burger King ad and reminding him he's soon to be stripped of his lightweight title - and defended his actions when speaking with MMAjunkie's Mike Bohn recently.

"He’s been taking shots at me," Holloway said. "Go tell all his fans, tell the whole world that he’s been taking shots at me. Then the one time he throws an underhand pitch - that’s a juicy ball, that chicken thing - no one was going to take it up? You’re crazy if you think 'Blessed' is going to let that slide. Your boy is going to slide in and let you know.

"This guy’s been picking on me. It’s like the school ground when you’re at school. If you ever get bullied, when you get sick of it, you turn around and you punch the bully in the face, and they don’t say anything. That’s what happened. It’s all right. I could not let that slide. I was giving a chance to everyone. No one was doing it, so 'Blessed' was going in."

Holloway has been invincible since dropping a decision to McGregor in August 2013, mounting a gaudy 12-fight win streak and capturing the UFC's featherweight crown along the way. But as much as he'd like to even the score with the soon-to-be-ex-lightweight king, the Hawaiian said he would much rather maintain order at 145 pounds - contrary to what the McGregor fan club might allege.

Holloway's next order of business will be a date with Brian Ortega, who became the first man to stop Frankie Edgar at UFC 222 - a bill an ankle injury kept Holloway from headlining against the latter. The champ wouldn't put an exact date on his return to action in a Monday appearance on "The MMA Hour," but floated July and August as possibilities. McGregor, on the other hand, hasn't defended his lightweight title since he stopped Eddie Alvarez to claim it at UFC 205 in November 2016.

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