Conor McGregor to face Max Holloway in UFC comeback July 11

UFC president Dana White announced Wednesday that former two-weight champion Conor McGregor will return to the octagon on July 11 in Las Vegas, facing Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 329 at T-Mobile Arena.

McGregor, 37, has not fought since breaking his left leg against Dustin Poirier in July 2021. The bout against Holloway will take place at lightweight or welterweight, White said.

The Irishman debuted in the UFC in 2013 and quickly became the sport’s biggest star, known for flashy striking and provocative trash talk. He made history in 2016 by becoming the first fighter to hold two UFC titles simultaneously when he added the lightweight belt to his featherweight crown.

McGregor’s brash persona helped propel mixed martial arts into the mainstream, a sport once derided by U.S. Senator John McCain as “human cockfighting.”

A boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in August 2017 earned McGregor tens of millions of dollars. However, he has fought only four times in MMA since beating Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title on Nov. 12, 2016, losing three of those bouts.

McGregor was originally scheduled to face former Bellator champion Michael Chandler in June 2024, but that fight was canceled after he broke a toe in training.

Later that year, an Irish civil jury found him liable in a rape case brought by a woman over an incident in 2018.

In October 2025, McGregor accepted an 18-month ban for “whereabouts failures” after missing three attempts by Combat Sports Anti-Doping to collect biological samples in 2024. The ban was backdated and expired in March.

If the fight with Holloway proceeds on July 11, it will be five years and one day since McGregor’s leg break against Poirier.