Conor McGregor finally set to end 5-year layoff, fight Max Holloway at UFC 329
UFC announced the news in the middle of Netflix’s Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano MMA card.
Conor McGregor is finally back. The embattled former two-division UFC champion is set to fight for the first time in more than five years with a July 11 rematch against Max Holloway at UFC 329. The bout will be contested at the welterweight limit of 170 pounds.
It will serve as the main event of this year's annual UFC International Fight Week festivities. UFC announced news of McGregor’s return Saturday just as former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou was making his ring walk on Netflix’s Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano fight card .
McGregor, 37, and Holloway, 34, previously fought at the infancies of their UFC careers, with McGregor earning a unanimous decision over Holloway in 2013. McGregor (22-6) has not competed since suffering a gruesome broken leg in his July 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier. Despite that extended absence, he remains one of the biggest names in the UFC, if not the biggest.
A former champion at both featherweight and lightweight, McGregor has headlined the four highest-selling pay-per-view events in MMA history, and his 2017 crossover boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. remains the second-highest selling pay-per-view event in combat sports history. Holloway (27-9) is a former UFC featherweight champion and ceremonial BMF titleholder, who lost his latter belt in early March at the hands of Charles Oliveira at UFC 326 .