Artem Lobov and Max Holloway have very different views on Conor McGregor’s champion status

Has there ever been an MMA fighter as polarizing as Conor McGregor?

One set of eyes will see him as the ultimate martial artist who always looks to test himself with bigger challenges. They will argue that the outrageous sums of money he earns are just a reward for all the hard work and dedication he puts into to perfecting the art of fighting. Others will argue that 'the Notorious' simply goes for 'money fights' AKA the biggest possible payday regardless of whether the fight makes sense or not. Undisputed featherweight king Max Holloway firmly falls into this camp, as he explained recently to ESPN.

"We're talking about this all the time with McGregor - and money fights are great - but don't tell me that guy is a champion. Explain to me how he's a champion when he's not doing champion fights."

https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/930926390500872193 Artem Lobov couldn't have more of a different view on McGregor's achievements in combat sports. McGregor's SBG teammate recently told MMA Panelen that McGregor has never taken a money fight. While that may seem like a ridiculous statement to make considering his last fight was sold as 'The Money Fight' against a man who calls himself 'Money' for 'the money belt,' the passion in his argument would nearly have you convinced.

"He has never taken a money fight. Every single fight he's taken made sense. He destroyed the featherweight division and there was nothing else for him to do there, so he moved up to go up and take on a bigger challenge - fight for that lightweight belt." "There was a pull-out and Nate stepped in and we know how that played out. Obviously Conor had to get that rematch. He had to get that one back. How is he, as a man that's competitive as he is, just going to let that one go? Never ever was he going to let that one go, so he had to get that back."

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"Once he did get that back, he went back on track to his original plan of moving up to 155 and taking on that next challenge, which he has done. And after that, whenever a bigger challenge presented itself in Mayweather, something that 49 men have attempted before and it hasn't been achieved. For an MMA fighter to go into a completely different sport and take on the best guy ever, this is a huge challenge and that's what motivated Conor. None of this fucking money fight bollocks."

'The Russian Hammer' conceded that McGregor is lavishly-paid, but insists that keeping hold of the 155 lb strap is priority number one. With Tony Ferguson holding the interim lightweight strap, one would expect a unification bout would be next on the cards for McGregor.

"Of course, he gets paid, he gets rewarded for his work that he does, but it's not about that. Now that that's out of the way, he's ready to defend that belt. That belt was his dream for as long as I can remember. Trust me, you will never take that belt off him."