Getty Images UFC star Conor McGregor.
Conor McGregor showed off his bulky new look this week and Kevin Holland isn’t too sure that the UFC star’s gains are all-natural.
Holland is never scared to make a joke or speak his mind and took to Instagram with a message about McGregor’s new look.
“Conor “vitro Belfort” McGregor,” Holland wrote, appearing to reference former UFC champ Vitor Belfort, who has been known for using testosterone replacement therapy.
Holland used the same photo McGregor posted earlier in the week, hinting his gains were from eating at his restaurant, The Black Forge.
“Before a feed at The Black Forge. After a feed at The Black Forge,” McGregor wrote in a tweet. “Quality Irish produce. All across the board. Unmatched!”
Before a feed at The Black Forge.
After a feed at The Black Forge.
Quality Irish produce. All across the board. Unmatched!
@blackforgeinn 🖤 🍀
McGregor is coming off a broken leg suffered while fighting Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 and has been on the mend, obviously putting in work. He mentioned previously on social media that he was tipping the scales around 190 pounds — a big shift for McGregor who has fought as low as 145 pounds in his career.
Holland Regretted Previously Poking Fun at McGregor
Holland is a meme master and also poked fun at McGregor following his loss to Poirier with an edited interview of his interview with Joe Rogan.
“In case you missed [Conor McGregor’s] first words after the fight he was really letting go after the fight,” Holland wrote.
After catching some heat from the McGregor army he “apologized” in the comments.
“Dam I forgot the Conor fans would murder me. I sorry,” Holland wrote.
McGregor Still Hungry to Compete
Whether there’s a belt on the line or not, a McGregor fight brings the eyeballs — and cash. And while the Irishman could sit back on his piles of cash, he’s still hungry to get in the octagon.
“He’s chomping at the bit to get back in there and compete again,” White said of McGregor. “It’s going to be a while before he can put some torque on that leg. April, for him to start training again in April is probably about right.”
White said there’s no question about McGregor’s commitment and he wants to get back to winning fights. He’s won just one fight since 2018, which came against Donald Cerrone.
“He obviously still has the desire to compete,” White said. “You don’t ever hear Conor going, ‘You know what, man? I just don’t have the desire for this anymore.’ You now what I mean? Yes, he’s obviously very rich, and he’s training like Rocky in ‘Rocky III,’ but he still has the desire to compete and the desire to fight, and we’ll see what happens.”
There are a few routes McGregor could go with his next fight and his longtime head coach John Kavanagh noted some of those during Monday’s The MMA Hour.
“I’ll be honest, the Nate Diaz trilogy is very, very tempting,” Kavanagh said. “It’s a fight that gives me nightmares. The man doesn’t stop coming forward, whether it’s three rounds or five rounds, but it’s an intriguing fight. So that one is definitely very interesting. But also the Tony Ferguson one — it never happened. It was talked about a lot. And Tony still has, I believe, a lot to offer the game. He’s a very unorthodox striker, grappler. I think the buildup would be fun for the fans. So any of those kind of legacy guys.”
It might be a while before we see McGregor back in the octagon but his next fight result will dictate quite a bit about how the rest of his career goes.