​Hawaii fans have their Sugar Bowl, and Hawaii’s UFC crowd now has their Holloway/McGregor showdown. Yet there’s a clear difference between the two spectacles. The Rainbow Warriors were toppled by Georgia on New Year’s Day in 2008, 41-10. Holloway, by contrast, cashed in the biggest payday of his career—more than $3 million—after the returning Conor McGregor couldn’t continue 69 seconds into the fight because of an injury that hasn’t been officially disclosed. It worked out perfectly for Max, but for anyone who traveled to the Ninth Island or paid into what stood as the UFC’s largest gate in history, around $25 million, the main event of UFC 329 felt like a letdown.
Holloway faced a difficult week, stepping into the ring while the UFC’s all-time biggest star made his return, and when a few boos rippled through the crowd as Bruce Buffer announced Holloway as the winner, it grew even more awkward as Holloway called for a third fight with McGregor, followed by, “let’s get this (expletive) money, boys.” It’s hard to imagine a larger turnout believing in a third Holloway/McGregor pairing, or in McGregor fights in general.
The Strip was buzzing with full hotels, celebrities flocked to fight night, and social media metrics suggested interest in this bout exceeded even the recently concluded White House card. Yet something felt missing inside the arena at T-Mobile for the main event. Holloway entered to Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s Hawaii ’78, a nostalgic nod to B.J. Penn’s peak era, before morphing into a tribute to Moke Boy’s Hawaiian Kickboxer. McGregor’s walkout didn’t deviate from his usual script, beginning with a salute to his homeland of Ireland, then blasting The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize” as the speakers roared.
There were certainly cheers, but they weren’t the thunderous roars I expected. Most attendees favored McGregor, yet the atmosphere lacked the fervent Irish support that used to travel with him to every arena. That missing element—passion. That’s what I kept returning to as I considered what this event lacked.
I assumed the environment surrounding this fight would at least rival Penn’s famed grudge match against Georges St-Pierre at the much smaller MGM Grand Garden Arena across the street 17 years ago. It didn’t feel close to that, and any archival footage I could find online of those entrances from ’09 confirmed the gulf.
Is it simply that everyone is too busy filming every moment on their phones? When UFC president Dana White walked through the media section in the middle of the card, both journalists beside me whipped out their phones to snap pictures and immediately dashed to post on Instagram. I found myself peering over the shoulder of the guy to my left, who captioned his shot with, “THE BOSS Dana White!!!” Yes, in all caps, “BOSS,” and three exclamation points for good SEO. M for maximum exposure.