McGregor makes weight for UFC 329 return against Holloway, 13 years on

Conor McGregor cleared his first hurdle toward a long-awaited Octagon return, successfully making weight at 170.5 pounds for UFC 329 on Saturday. His opponent, Max Holloway, came in at exactly 170 pounds, setting the stage for a five-round welterweight rematch more than a decade in the making.

The two fighters first met in 2013, when McGregor handed Holloway a clear-cut decision defeat early in both men’s careers. The sport has changed dramatically since then. Holloway, now 27-9, went on to become featherweight champion and cemented his legacy with one of MMA’s most celebrated knockouts — a walk-off finish of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300. The 34-year-old Hawaiian enters this fight looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Charles Oliveira in March.

McGregor, meanwhile, has not competed since suffering a leg fracture against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021. The Irishman’s return has been one of the most anticipated storylines in combat sports, and his appearance at the scales on Friday confirmed the fight will proceed as scheduled.

All other fighters across the 13-bout card also made weight without issue. Among the notable bouts on the undercard, Paddy Pimblett and Benoit St. Denis both came in at the lightweight limit of 156 pounds, while Mario Bautista and Cory Sandhagen hit 135.5 apiece for their bantamweight contest. Nikita Krylov and Robert Whittaker both weighed in at 205.5 pounds for their light heavyweight clash.

The full weigh-in results were as follows: McGregor (170.5) vs. Holloway (170); Pimblett (156) vs. St. Denis (156); Bautista (135.5) vs. Sandhagen (135.5); Lone’er Kavanagh (126) vs. Brandon Royval (125); King Green (155.5) vs. Terrance McKinney (156); Krylov (205.5) vs. Whittaker (205.5); Elisha Ellison (236) vs. Gable Steveson (241); Cody Garbrandt (136) vs. Adrian Yanez (136); Kai Kamaka III (146) vs. Luke Riley (146); Cong Wang (125.5) vs. Tracy Cortez (126); Cesar Almeida (186) vs. Damian Pinas (185.5); Farid Basharat (136) vs. John Garza (135.5); Ryan Gandra (185.5) vs. Zachary Reese (184.5); Alessandro Costa (126) vs. Cody Durden (125.5).