Conor McGregor returning to UFC in July for fight vs. Max Holloway

Conor McGregor is returning to the UFC octagon, UFC CEO Dana White announced Saturday during MVP’s first MMA on Netflix. Fans can only hope McGregor will actually make the cage walk this time.

McGregor, the most popular fighter in UFC history whose rumors of a return bout have disappointed fans for years, will return on July 11 to face fan favorite Max Holloway at UFC 329 during the promotion’s International Fight Week. The Irishman, who will be three days shy of his 38th birthday on the night of the fight, was last scheduled for a bout against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June 2024, but pulled out two weeks prior because of a toe injury.

The former two-division champion has not fought since breaking his leg in the first round of a loss to Dustin Poirier in 2021. Despite tallying just one win since 2016, McGregor has remained the promotion’s most popular star and his regularly teased returns have captivated the sport’s storylines.

McGregor rose to prominence in the mid-2010s with his championship victories over Chad Mendes and Jose Aldo to win the lightweight and featherweight titles. His later rivalries against Nate Diaz, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Poirier made for some of the highest-rated pay-per-views in company history. The fight against Nurmagomedov set the record for the biggest MMA PPV event in history with 2.4 million buys, while both of McGregor’s defeats to Poirier in 2021 garnered more than 1.5 million PPV buys.

Now five years later, in a drastically different UFC era that no longer sells PPVs, McGregor will make his Paramount+ debut at welterweight against Holloway, a former featherweight champion. McGregor and Holloway first fought in 2013.

This story will be updated.