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Alvarez warns McGregor's five-year absence is too long to overcome at UFC 329

Eddie Alvarez, who faced Conor McGregor at his peak, doubts the Irishman can rediscover his best form after five years away from the octagon. McGregor returns to face Max Holloway in the UFC 329 main event on July 11 in Las Vegas.

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Alvarez warns McGregor's five-year absence is too long to overcome at UFC 329
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Eddie Alvarez believes Conor McGregor’s five-year absence from the octagon is simply too long to bridge when he returns against Max Holloway in the UFC 329 main event on July 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“You can’t put it down and pick it up whenever you want,” Alvarez said on Full Send MMA. “You’re either in this life or you’re not. It’s not something you can just pick up and put down. You are a fighter, and it takes years to become that character, and once you get out of that character, it’s very difficult to get back into it.”

Alvarez, who lost to McGregor at UFC 205 in 2016, is not dismissing the Irishman’s ability entirely. He acknowledges that McGregor has the obsessive drive required to mount a comeback — but argues that the quality of the opponent makes the timing particularly difficult. While McGregor has been sidelined, Holloway has remained one of the most active and decorated fighters in the sport, consistently taking on elite competition.

“I think if anybody can make a comeback and have the obsessiveness and stuff, Conor’s the guy to do it,” Alvarez said. “But I just think he’s been too far out of that character to come back against a guy who has been active, he’s been in that character, he’s been getting big, big fights. I just think it might be too much too soon.”

Alvarez did find one reason for cautious optimism on McGregor’s behalf: the matchup itself suits him. McGregor and Holloway first met over a decade ago, with McGregor winning, and both have since built Hall of Fame-calibre careers. Crucially for McGregor, Holloway is a striker who is unlikely to drag the fight to the ground.

“Conor picked the perfect matchup, the most comfortable matchup, where he knows where he wants the fight to go,” Alvarez said. “This is going to be a boxing fight with MMA gloves, and that’s where Conor’s most comfortable.”

Despite that concession, Alvarez’s overall verdict was blunt: once a fighter puts it down, he said, it stays down.

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