Max Holloway: ‘Conor McGregor was the 2015 champion, we’re in the year 2017’

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) interim featherweight titleholder Max Holloway will attempt to unify the division titles when he collides with reigning featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo at the UFC 212 pay-per-view (PPV) event this weekend in Brazil.

And the only reason there are two belts, is because Conor McGregor was forced to surrender his strap in pursuit of lightweight gold, a mission accomplished at UFC 205 last November in New York.

Holloway, however, is looking forward, not back.

"Conor was the 2015 champion, we're in the year 2017," Holloway told TMZ Sports. "It's about defending your whatever. Conor’s just not that guy, he’s always looking for the bigger and better picture, he’s always looking over the fence.”

Or rope.

Holloway captured the temporary title by running through Anthony Pettis at UFC 206 last fall (details). Finishing “Showtime” marked the Hawaiian’s tenth straight win, a streak that includes finishes over Cub Swanson and Charles Oliveira, among others.

I have to imagine a victory over Aldo will cement “Blessed” — who took McGregor to the scorecards at UFC Fight Night 26 — as the one and only king of the 145-pound castle.

We’ll find out in just a few days.