{"id":802602,"date":"2026-05-17T10:06:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T10:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/802602\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T10:06:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T10:06:39","slug":"ufc-conor-mcgregor-to-fight-max-holloway-in-ufc-return-in-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/802602\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC: Conor McGregor to fight Max Holloway in UFC return in July"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Conor McGregor will return to action for the first time in five years when he faces Max Holloway in a welterweight bout at UFC 329 in Las Vegas on 11 July.<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The 37-year-old Irishman has not fought since breaking his leg in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/mixed-martial-arts\/57793781\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">defeat by Dustin Poirier<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He was scheduled to return against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/mixed-martial-arts\/articles\/c9xx68z9py7o\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">American Michael Chandler<\/a> in 2024 but pulled out just over two weeks prior to the bout after breaking his toe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The fight with Holloway is a rematch of their featherweight bout in 2013, which McGregor won on points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Liverpudlian Paddy Pimblett will also fight at UFC 329 at the T-Mobile Arena, taking on Frenchman Benoit Saint-Denis in his first bout since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/mixed-martial-arts\/articles\/cg5p8jren2po\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">losing to Justin Gaethje<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Also in action is British <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/mixed-martial-arts\/articles\/c248l15pl82o\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">flyweight Lone&#8217;er Kavanagh<\/a> who faces Brandon Royval and the unbeaten Luke Riley who fights Kai Kamaka at featherweight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Holloway, 34, is a difficult return opponent for McGregor as the Hawaiian has consistently competed at the highest level at lightweight in recent years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">One of the biggest MMA stars in history, McGregor has 22 wins and six defeats since making his debut in 2008.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">McGregor was the UFC&#8217;s first simultaneous two-weight world champion after winning titles at featherweight in 2015 and lightweight in 2016, but his career has been dogged by controversy in recent years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Last year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/mixed-martial-arts\/articles\/c740p929me4o\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">he accepted an 18-month ban<\/a> for violating the UFC&#8217;s anti-doping policy after missing three drugs tests within a 12-month period in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The ban, which was backdated to the third missed test in September 2024, concluded in March.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">McGregor has been <a href=\"https:\/\/ufcantidoping.com\/tests\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tested 11 times, external<\/a> by Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) this year, which is more than any other fighter on the UFC&#8217;s roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conor McGregor will return to action for the first time in five years when he faces Max Holloway&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":802603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,50,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-802602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116589362627504660","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}