Conor McGregor will fight Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 329

Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor is set to return to the Octagon on July 11, 2026, when he headlines UFC 329 against former featherweight titleholder Max Holloway at Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena during International Fight Week. After weeks of speculation, Dana White officially confirmed the fight via Instagram during Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 276 event on Paramount+.

The welterweight bout at 170 pounds will be McGregor’s first fight since July 2021 and serves as a rematch of their 2013 meeting, which McGregor won by unanimous decision in Boston.

McGregor, 37, enters the contest with a 22-6 professional MMA record. His last appearance ended in a first-round doctor stoppage loss to Dustin Poirier after suffering a broken lower tibia in their trilogy fight. The defeat was his second consecutive loss to Poirier, and McGregor has won only once in his past four UFC appearances. Since then, the former lightweight and featherweight champion remained one of the sport’s most recognizable figures through projects outside competition, including acting in the remake of “Road House,” becoming a part-owner of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, and coaching opposite Michael Chandler on season 31 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

McGregor was initially expected to face Chandler at UFC 303 in June 2024, but withdrew two weeks before the event after breaking his toe.

Although McGregor has not fought in five years, he has remained a constant figure in the news cycle for a series of incidents away from MMA. In 2024, he was found liable in a civil case involving a 2018 sexual assault allegation. Another civil suit tied to an alleged Miami incident from 2023 was later withdrawn. That same year, allegations also surfaced accusing him of assaulting a woman aboard his yacht in Ibiza.

Early in 2025, McGregor faced backlash for using racial slurs in social media posts aimed at former rival Khabib Nurmagomedov, and this past summer, footage emerged showing him punching a man twice inside a nightclub in Ibiza. Beyond those incidents, he also served an 18-month suspension under UFC anti-doping rules. Since the suspension was retroactive to Sept. 20, 2024, he became eligible to return to action on March 20.

Meanwhile, Holloway, 34, brings a 27-9 record into UFC 329. After losing to McGregor in 2013, Holloway built a 13-fight winning streak that included back-to-back victories over Jose Aldo to capture and defend the UFC featherweight championship. He later went of on to defeat some of the sport’s biggest names, including Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, Anthony Pettis, Frankie Edgar, and Aldo. His dramatic last-second knockout of Gaethje at UFC 300 is considered one of the most iconic finishes ever seen in the Octagon.

Holloway is coming off a decision loss to Charles Oliveira in a “BMF” title bout at UFC 326. Despite that setback, he remains regarded as one of the UFC’s top fighters across multiple divisions and now gets an opportunity to avenge a loss suffered early in his UFC career.

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