Key Takeaways
- UFC 329 brings Conor McGregor back to the Octagon for the first time since 2021 in a July 11 main event rematch with Max Holloway in Las Vegas, a decade after McGregor’s unanimous-decision win in their 2013 featherweight bout.
- Now fighting at welterweight, McGregor (22-6, 19 KOs) returns at 37 after years of legal trouble, a high-profile 18‑month anti-doping suspension, and a long layoff, while Holloway (27-9, all-time UFC significant-strikes leader) has stayed active, going 5-3 with wins over names like Dustin Poirier.
- The piece breaks down their styles—McGregor’s southpaw counter-punching and improved wrestling versus Holloway’s relentless volume striking and elite defensive grappling—alongside the pre-fight trash talk, media backlash around McGregor’s late-night return, and fresh scrutiny over his past PED use ahead of the sport’s biggest summer showcase.
The fight game’s most notorious athlete is back. On July 11, Conor McGregor will step inside the Octagon for the first time in five years to trade jabs with Max Holloway.
Both fighters made the cut for Complex’s 25 Best UFC Fighters of All Time list, with Holloway checking in at No. 25, and McGregor landing at No. 18.
McGregor and Holloway fought previously on Aug. 17, 2013 with McGregor winning by unanimous decision. That bout took place prior to McGregor becoming one of the most popular athletes on the planet, as it was only his second bout in UFC.
Below, we will dish out all the information you need to know about what should be the biggest UFC showdown of the summer.
McGregor vs. Holloway: When And Where
McGregor versus Holloway will be the main event of UFC 329, which will take place on Saturday, July 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
McGregor vs. Holloway by the numbers
Here is a look at McGregor vs. Holloway by the numbers:
Conor McGregor
- Record: 22-6-0
- (T)KO: 19-2
- Sub: 1-4
- Age: 37
- Height: 5-foot-9
- Weight: 156 pounds
- Team: SBG Ireland
- Nickname: The Notorious
- Stance: Southpaw
Max Holloway
- Record: 27-9-0
- (T)KO: 12-1
- Sub: 2-1
- Age: 34
- Height: 5-foot-11
- Weight: 155 pounds
- Team: Gracie Technics
- Nickname: Blessed
- Stance: Orthodox
The road to UFC 329
This clash has been a long time coming as McGregor has dealt with plenty of personal issues over the past few years that have kept him away from the Octagon. Here are just some of the incidents that have transpired since his last fight.
- October 2021: Allegedly assaulted Italian DJ and TV personality Francesco Facchinetti
- March 2022: Arrested in Dublin and charged with six driving offenses
- January 2023: Accused of assaulting 42-year-old woman aboard his yacht. Incident allegedly occurred in July 2022
- June 2023: Punches Miami Heat mascot, Burnie, twice during intermission of NBA Finals game as part of a skit. The Heat mascot had to visit a local emergency room as a result of the blow.
- November 2024: Found liable, by an Irish jury, of sexual assault from incident in 2018
- March 2025: Announced plans to run as a far right candidate for the Irish presidency
- September 2025: Withdraws from Ireland presidential election, stating that the election process in the country was “undemocratic”
- October 2025: Received 18-month suspension from UFC anti-doping program Combat Sports Anti-Doping. Suspension was due to three “whereabout failures” as McGregor missed drug tests on June 13, Sept. 19 and Sept. 20, 2024 and did not provide adequate information regarding his location
McGregor had been pushing to return for the UFC Freedom 250 event on June 14 of this year. The event will be held on the South Lawn of the White House, and McGregor has been chummy with US President Donald Trump over the years. McGregor and UFC could not come to financial terms for that event, reportedly, so we had to wait an extra month for his comeback.
The former two-division champ will surely be rusty in his battle against Holloway, as the Irishman hasn’t fought since July 10, 2021. He lost via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) to Dustin Poirier after just one round. Poirier also got the best of McGregor six months earlier as he won via TKO in the second round.
McGregor hasn’t won a fight since Jan. 18, 2020, when he beat Donald Cerrone in 40 seconds.
Holloway, who is no spring chicken himself at 34 years old, has competed eight times since McGregor’s most recent fight. Holloway is 5-3 in that span, which includes a win over Poirier on July 19, 2025; the Hawaiian beat Poirier via unanimous decision.
Holloway’s latest fight came on March 7 of this year, a unanimous decision loss to Charles Oliveira.
Holloway’s UFC debut came all the way back on Feb. 4, 2012. The loss to McGregor in 2013, a unanimous decision, came in Holloway’s sixth career UFC fight.
What happened in their first fight?
McGregor–Holloway I took place on Aug. 17, 2013 at TD Garden in Boston. The clash was a bout in the featherweight weight class, while this summer’s meeting will be held in the welterweight weight class.
Boston, with its dense Irish population, was a mad house that night and gave McGregor something of a home cage advantage. A young McGregor showed tremendous kickboxing skill in the early going of the bout against Holloway, bashing the Hawaiian with kicks and two-punch combos. In the second round, McGregor continued to dominate but suddenly felt his knee give out midway through. The Irishman wound up tearing his ACL, but he continued the fight and won via a smart ground attack.
What type of fighter is Conor McGregor?
McGregor is outstanding at counter-punching, and his southpaw striker style has routinely confused opponents over the years. The Dublin native has a wide, upright stance that can deliver knockout blows.
Boxing is his forte, but his wrestling noticeably improved once he got a few years into his UFC career.
What type of fighter is Max Holloway?
Holloway is the Energizer Bunny of striking as he will wear opponents down with a relentless amount of punches and kicks. He is the all-time UFC leader in significant strikes landed in a single bout, and the all-time leader in significant strikes landed in a UFC career. Holloway is an elite defensive wrestler as opponents have a difficult time locking in holds. He has lost via submission just once in his career, and it came in his first UFC fight, a one-round loss to Poirier on Feb. 12, 2012.
What they are saying
It wouldn’t be a Conor McGregor fight without A LOT of trash talk. Expect plenty over the next few weeks, but it has already begun.
Holloway posted a video on X of some of the biggest moments of he and McGregor’s careers, with a caption of “July 11 Return of the MAX.”
McGregor responded by tweeting, “I’m gonna son you, child. Again.”
May 31
McGregor re-tweeted a post from a fan account called McGregor News that read: “Conor McGregor has been tested under the UFC’s anti-doping program 12 times in 2026.
Merab Dvalishvili was the most tested fighter in all of 2025 with 14 tests … Conor is already at 12 and it’s only May.”
McGregor was suspended 18 months by UFC for missing doping tests, retroactive to Sept. 20, 2024. He did not become eligible to fight again in UFC until March 20 of this year.
June 5
McGregor and Holloway will square off 36 days from now, and McGregor has been ramping up his training ahead of the bout.
McGregor has brought in many interesting names to spar with in recent weeks with 6-foot-5 inch undefeated welterweight Eoin Sheridan, former Ultimate Fighter cast member Lee Hammond, featherweight Rogger Lopez, and amateur boxer Craig Kavanaugh all making appearances at McGregor’s training camp.
June 23
Prior to his many personal scandals in the late 2010s and early 2020s, McGregor was a regular on the late night talk show circuit in the US. McGregor did make a return to late night last week when he was a guest on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
The appearance caused plenty of backlash on social media, with critics lambasting Fallon for a softball interview that only promoted the upcoming fight and avoided any controversial subjects. One X user tweeted at Fallon, “@jimmyfallon love to platform abusers. There is no bond stronger than the kinship between abusive men.”
The post included a picture of President Donald Trump, McGregor, and Fallon himself. Fallon was accused of “fostering a toxic workplace” in 2023 by co-workers.
McGregor was scheduled to appear on ESPN’s First Take with Stephen A. Smith last week as well, but he reportedly “no showed.” It led to plenty of speculation that McGregor is avoiding appearing on shows that might discuss his controversial past.
July 10
With his return fight against Max Halloway now just hours away, Conor McGregor’s name continues to take hits. The latest negative publicity comes from the New York Times, which published an article on July 8 regarding McGregor’s use of human growth hormone and anabolic steroids. McGregor is said to have continued the use of the banned drugs even after his broken leg had fully healed.
“McGregor, now 37, took the substances during the more than two years he opted out of the sport’s drug testing program, a move that antidoping experts contend allowed him to exploit a loophole in which he could use banned drugs and face no suspension,” the Times article read. “It is not clear how long he used the drugs. He began being tested again for the banned substances in October 2023.
“His use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone is significant and gives greater insight into McGregor’s recovery as he prepares to return to fight on Saturday for the first time since his injury in 2021, at a highly anticipated match in Las Vegas.”
The UFC says that McGregor has been tested 22 times over the past two years and that 15 of those tests came in 2026. The world’s premier MMA organization maintains that all of those tests came back negative.
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