Fighters’ picks for Conor McGregor’s return vs. Max HollowayplayConor McGregor: ‘I am the greatest featherweight since Bruce Lee’ (1:28)ESPN staffMay 7, 2026, 11:00 AM ETMultiple Authors
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The UFC’s first double champion will be back in action for International Fight Week on Saturday night, as former featherweight and lightweight champ Conor McGregor makes his highly anticipated return to face Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 329 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
McGregor, who has not fought in five years, will end his layoff by taking on another former featherweight titleholder in a rematch of an August 2013 fight that McGregor won by unanimous decision.
In the co-main event, rising star Paddy Pimblett takes on Benoît Saint Denis in a matchup of lightweight contenders.
Coach Din Thomas and other fighters on the UFC 329 card offer their picks and insight for the main event.
Expert take
I’d like to believe Conor is genuine about improving his behavior. Everything he’s saying sounds great, but I can’t trust him yet. He’s been out for too long, and I think Max moving up is a disadvantage for Conor. Holloway will have more weight behind his volume striking, which will lead to him eventually stopping Conor. Conor has to land a big shot early and use that power. His ability to disrupt opponents’ rhythm has always been good. He’s good at creating angles and landing at the right time, but Max will throw a lot of punches and use his feints and movement to get a lot of touches early. That will discourage Conor and force him to panic. Max will do that, and it will lead to Conor making mistakes. — Din Thomas, Holloway by fourth-round TKO
Fighters’ takes
“If Conor is gonna win, it’s going to have to be in the first two rounds. If it goes past that, I think Max will probably take over.” — Paddy Pimblett
“It’s a huge fight. It’s a huge interrogation of Conor. He hasn’t fought in a long time. I just do believe that the longer the fight lasts, the better it will be for Max Holloway.” — Benoît Saint Denis
“I like both of them a lot. I think Max will probably win because I think the conditioning is going to be a big deal and so not fighting for so long is going to be a big deal.” — Cory Sandhagen
“I’ve got Max Holloway in that fight. I think the longer the fight goes, it’s going to play more into Max’s hands.” — Mario Bautista
“I can’t give a prediction. Being half-Irish, I want to back Conor, but I love Max Holloway. I grew up watching him. So I’m just excited to watch that one as a fan.” — Lone’er Kavanagh
“I’m really 50/50 on it. We don’t know what Conor is going to show up. I feel like everything is in Conor’s favor. He’s at a weight class where he doesn’t have to cut weight … but Max is the guy who has put the work in. He’s been on the stages and in the trenches still. Conor got out of the war, and Max has been in there shooting and sniping, so I’m kind of on the side of Max. If I have to pick between the worker and the non-worker, I pick the worker, but that shot Conor’s got and his timing — timing is the key. [Conor] has mentioned it before, ‘It’s about timing.’ And as long as he hasn’t lost that timing, he can still touch you. But can he touch you hard enough before he runs out of gas?” — King Green
“If Conor doesn’t get Max out of there in the first two rounds, Max gets a clear decision or TKO in the fourth round.” — Terrance McKinney
“There’s a lot of variables in this fight. Conor has been in the firefight a long time. I don’t know what kind of work he’s been doing outside of the Octagon, but it’s just not the same. If you’re not in competition, it’s not the same. So there’s that factor, as well as bouncing back from that leg break, bouncing back from things — it changes you. Time changes you. There’s also the variable of Max at 170 [pounds]. We haven’t seen him at 170. He’s a volume, cardio sort of striker, so to see him at 170, where, generally speaking, the higher the weight division the slower cardio, it’s hard to say. I’m going to be backing Max, because I like him, but I think he gets it done. He’s battle-tested, he’s been in the game, he’s had these five-round fights, he’s had to grind through it. I think getting comfortable outside of fighting and being away from it for so long is really going to impact Conor. Obviously his swagger and his ability and his striking power in undeniable, but his super power was that he was hungry. He had a real star’s look in his eyes when he was tearing through people, and I feel that was a super power that disappeared when he made $100 million dollars.” — Robert Whittaker
“I have tremendous respect for both of those guys, but we have to take into account that Conor’s had a long layoff. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been training but he hasn’t been in the competition setting. Max has been cranking out fights yearly. I would say Max by decision.” — Elisha Ellison
“I grew up watching Conor McGregor. What an honor it is to be on the same card as him. He’s an OG, a legend, and so is Max Holloway. As much as I’d love to say Conor, I gotta go with Max on this one.” — Gable Steveson
