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UFC 329 preview: 6 big questions for Conor McGregor's MMA return against Max Holloway
Well, it’s been five years since the last time we saw Conor McGregor take off his shoes in the Octagon, yet here we are in MMA’s version of “Return of the Mac.” McGregor will take on Max Holloway at 170 pounds on Saturday night in Las Vegas, in the headlining spot of UFC 329.
Holloway has fought eight times since McGregor last competed back in 2021. He’s challenged for the featherweight title twice, moved up in weight to 155 pounds, scored a knockout of the ages against Justin Gaethje for the BMF title, settled a score with Dustin Poirier, and lost that BMF title to Charles Oliveira. In other words, lifetimes have passed by since McGregor broke his leg at UFC 264.
You know what that means? There are some big questions surrounding one of the UFC’s biggest, most polarizing stars. Let’s get to them.
1. Is it possible to separate McGregor the person from McGregor the UFC legend at this point? Or more pointedly, should we?
Petesy: You know, Chuck, when I first showed up in the U.S. 12 years ago for UFC 178 as the novelty Irish journalist from McGregor’s formative years, the main question people asked me was: “Is he really like this all the time?”
My answer was always the same. He really was that guy you saw at the press conferences, obsessed with fighting, his physical condition and mentally manipulating his opponents in any way he possibly could.
I haven’t seen that guy in years. I haven’t spoken to McGregor in about a decade. This new version of Conor, I’ve had no interactions with at all, but it’s very hard for me to square this version of him with the man who captivated the world.
He speaks with a different accent. He looks a lot different, too. Headlines attached to him are less about fighting and more about controversies he’s been embroiled in outside the Octagon. He’s gone from being the man who made it cool to be Irish, to being easily the most divisive and controversial figure on the island.
For me, the UFC legend was from 2013-2016. It begins with Marcus Brimage, and it ends with Eddie Alvarez in New York. What’s happened since has given us little to celebrate.
Chuck: I would go so far as to say Conor’s … what, gravitas? ... held up at least through UFC 229, even though by that point we’d seen him try to launch a dolly through the window of a bus and say things in bad taste about Khabib Nurmagomedov’s family (and show up in “pimp form” for one of the promotional dates on the Floyd Mayweather hype tour).
There was still a mystique about him, a superstardom, and at that point I was buying into it. He was like a chameleon in the promotional game, as he showed up in different versions. Yet since then it’s been a series of unfortunate events, with so many incidents that it’s nearly impossible to identify the young, hungry fighter who at one point borrowed money from his coach to pursue the dream.
The goodwill of McGregor is gone, and — for a country that lived through him vicariously as Ireland did, and for a country that was captivated by his aura, as America was — it’s not likely to come back. Anyone who can separate the two is either new to the game or willing to turn a blind eye.
2. Given the daunting set of circumstances — nearly five years out of action, coming back from a major leg injury, turning 38 just a couple of days after UFC 329 — if McGregor beats Holloway, is this the greatest comeback story in MMA history?
Chuck: It would absolutely be the greatest comeback in terms of how much he would overcome. The convention is that there’s such a thing as “ring rust,” which can be felt after as little as a year away. Just trying to get the mind right, the timing down, acclimated to the speed of a fight, all of that. But five years is an eternity. Even when Georges St-Pierre came back in 2016 to fight Michael Bisping for the middleweight title, it had been only four years.
Then take into account the catastrophic leg injury he’s coming back from, the kind of injury that takes a mental and physical toll on fighting. Then take the fact that he’ll be 38 before he leaves Vegas. Then take into account that he’s fighting Max Holloway, who — as far as we know — still has it and has been chomping at the bit to get his revenge on McGregor. Then compile it all into the “silk pajamas” dilemma that Marvin Hagler talked about.
The closest comparison to this in the MMA world would be “GSP,” but St-Pierre was fighting an overachieving middleweight champion who was long in the tooth and blind in one eye. What McGregor’s up against is far more daunting.
Petesy: I’ve gotta tell you, Chuck, this does feel a lot different to St-Pierre’s return.
It’s so hard for me to see a McGregor win. Not only has he been out of action, his body has suffered notable injuries in the third Dustin Poirier fight and in the lead-up to his ill-fated 2024 date with Michael Chandler.
To add to that, McGregor has openly talked about his dark days, partying too hard and, as he put it, “disgracing the position” given to him by God. He also disclosed he underwent an Ibogaine treatment in Mexico last year, a procedure that is particularly helpful for people suffering from narcotic withdrawal symptoms. This isn’t the sort of thing that fills you with promise when considering a 38-year-old athlete.
With that said, all of these factors are why you are completely correct to ponder whether this would be the greatest comeback story in MMA history. The cult of McGregor is so gigantic, it pulverizes everything in its path — including St-Pierre’s incredible return after four years to win a UFC title in a second weight class. This week may not carry the same merit as the French-Canadian’s triumph, but it’ll become so loud if McGregor wins that it’ll be hard to deny it, as least as the biggest comeback “story.”
3. Given that Khamzat Chimaev, Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria lost recently, does the UFC need McGregor?
Petesy: If the McGregor I know is still somewhere in there, he will be frothing at the mouth thinking about the fall-off of Chimaev, Pereira and Topuria.
I don’t know if “need” is the word I’d use, but UFC still benefits greatly from having him compete. I think there is every chance this event will break the viewership record UFC and Paramount set for the White House event. And even if Irish people aren’t travelling across the Atlantic and having multi-million dollar impacts on Sin City, UFC 329 breaking the gate record speaks to the appetite that’s still out there for “The Notorious.”
He still needs to win, though.
Chuck: Yeah, “need” is a strong word, but it might be closer to “UFC needs” than “UFC benefits from.” A McGregor fight is a seismic happening, one that attracts MMA fans, boxing fans, wrestling fans, casuals, haters, trolls, defenders of justice, housewives, and just about everyone in between. Whenever a big-time national media platform gets Dana White on to discuss the UFC, it’s always the first name out of a host’s mouth.
“When will we see Conor back in action?”
His name is what everyone knows. McGregor is ingrained in celebrity and success. That hasn’t left. If he goes in there and wins this weekend, it might feel like a temporary restoration of order, a familiar place, especially after those aforementioned stars lost their bearings a little bit. I think the UFC could use that to great advantage as it plots to kill him for the last fight on his contract (probably against Carlos Prates).
4. What does a victory do for Max Holloway?
Chuck: The great thing that Max has in his back pocket is that victory over the now-155-pound champion Justin Gaethje. That win has aged very well, considering Gaethje’s incredible 2026.
Should he beat McGregor — and that’s what I suspect will happen — a return to 155 pounds would be the move. He’d be right back in the title picture, and he’d add some a golden hue to his OG status. It’s true he coughed up some of that in the Charles Oliveira loss, but this is the year of resiliency. One of those vintage, flow-state performances that Max is known for would shoot him right back into the must-see ranks as a lightweight.
Petesy: I agree with you, man. A win for Max puts him right in line for a rematch with Justin Gaethje, as far as I’m concerned. Gaethje’s wins over Paddy Pimblett and Topuria have him right on track to become the 2026 Fighter Of the Year, but even though he disagrees, I really think there’s unfinished business with Holloway.
Holloway’s last-second knockout of Gaethje at UFC 300 is the among the most spectacular in the history of the sport. With Gaethje already eyeing retirement in the lead-up to his clash with Topuria at the White House, the time is now to get that one back.
Unfortunately for Arman Tsarukyan, I genuinely believe the winner of this fight is going to leapfrog him. Let’s hope RAF continue to keep him busy in the meantime.
5. Should Paddy Pimblett beat Benoit Saint-Denis in the co-main event, is that enough a title shot?
Petesy: I really don’t think so. I think Paddy will probably need one more beyond “BSD” even if he manages to get the win as an underdog in Saturday’s co-main event.
I like what Paddy has been doing in the lead-up to this fight. He hasn’t even faced off Saint-Denis yet and he’s already talking about fighting Conor McGregor in the immediate aftermath of UFC 329.
That makes a lot of sense to me. The first time I became aware of Pimblett was back in 2014 when he made a video calling out McGregor, Artem Lobov and everyone in McGregor’s orbit. It would quite intriguing to me to to see arguably two of the most compelling MMA figures from the UK and Ireland locking horns on the sport’s biggest stage.
Chuck: I’m with you on this. It would be tempting to strike while the iron is hot if Pimblett gets through “BSD,” as it would be by far the biggest win of his career. Yet the résumé itself is still a little sus, as the kids say. Victories over a washed Tony Ferguson, the UFC’s resident Unc King Green, and the dried-out husk of Michael Chandler don’t add up to much in the grand scheme.
A McGregor fight could make sense if circumstances work out, at least from a fan’s perspective. That’s the thing, though. The UFC didn’t book Khamzat Chimaev for Nate Diaz’s infamous swan song because it cared about the fan perspective. It wanted to send Diaz off in an ambulance to whatever paydays awaited him outside the brand. Giving McGregor a fight with Paddy might be doing Conor a bigger favor than the UFC feels compelled to do.
6. What’s the best fight on this card outside the top two?
Chuck: I’m going to say Terrance McKinney’s fight with King Green, if for no other reason than it’s only on this card to guarantee some bats*** crazy television. McKinney never goes to the scorecards, and Green never puts his hands up. Somebody will get flatlined here, and there’s a feeling — which might even be a movement, at this point — to see McKinney get his first fight night bonus.
I’m going to take an educated guess and say you’re rolling with your dude with the apostrophe in his name?
Petesy: Yup, for me it’s Brandon Royval vs. Lone’er Kavanagh. These are two action-first fighters and I expect this to deliver in big way. The matchmaking feels like a bit of setup for Kavanagh on the back of his sensational performance against Brandon Moreno.
Royval will get that feeling too and I think it’ll light a fire under him. I wouldn’t be surprised if this steals the show … as much as anyone can steal the show when McGregor fights.
