Holloway braced for best McGregor as pair renew rivalry at UFC 329 after 13 years

Max Holloway will step into the octagon against Conor McGregor for the first time in 13 years when the pair headline UFC 329 on 11 July, with Holloway chasing revenge for a unanimous decision defeat that dates back to 2013.

The original fight was far from clean-cut. McGregor suffered a torn ACL in the second round, while Holloway was battling a severe ankle injury of his own. Despite those caveats, Holloway acknowledges the result stands and says neither fighter should be drawing too many conclusions from it.

“That was 13 years ago. It’s kind of crazy,” Holloway told MMA Fighting. “It’s any of these rematches. I’m having these rematches 10 plus years later, and you can’t take nothing away from that first time you fought. It is what it is. I can’t wait. July 11. Return of the Max. Mystic Max. It’s going to be a fun night.”

If the 13-year gap is striking, McGregor’s ring rust may be the bigger talking point. The Irish superstar has not competed in the UFC since suffering a broken leg in his third fight with Dustin Poirier in 2021 — a layoff of five years. McGregor has insisted he returns in the best shape of his career, but questions about what version shows up on fight night are unavoidable.

Holloway, however, is refusing to factor those doubts into his preparation, warning that underestimating McGregor would be a costly mistake.

“It’s five years. It could have gone the other way,” Holloway said. “Five years, you get to reset, you get to take care of your body, you get to not do weight cuts, and you just got to let your body recover for a little bit. I know everybody [is going to say] ‘Is Max blind? We saw him partying and blah, blah, blah.’ But it is what it is. Maybe he wanted you to see that. No one knows what happened behind closed doors. At the end of the day, I’m getting ready for the best Conor McGregor, and I can’t wait.”

Holloway himself arrives with something to prove. His last outing ended in a disappointing defeat to Charles Oliveira, making this rematch with McGregor not just a chance to settle old scores but an opportunity to reassert himself among the elite of the division. McGregor, meanwhile, has leaned heavily on that 2013 win in the pre-fight build-up — a tactic Holloway finds curious given how much has changed for both men since.