Comeback set at welterweight, but lightweight title shot seen as likely next step

'Gaethje was face-down, completely knocked out,' McGregor says

Conor McGregor, returning to the UFC octagon for the first time in six years [Getty Images]
Conor McGregor, returning to the UFC octagon for the first time in six years [Getty Images]

Conor McGregor is back — and he wants UFC gold again.

The 37-year-old Irish fighter returns to the octagon July 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for UFC 329, where he faces Max Holloway in a welterweight bout. It will be exactly five years since his last fight, a loss to Justin Poirier at UFC 264 in 2021.

His last victory dates back even further — a January 2020 win over Donald Cerrone at UFC 246, six years ago. Both Poirier and Cerrone have since retired. McGregor steps back into the cage after an absence long enough to outlast his rivals' careers.

McGregor reached the peak of his fighting career in 2015 and 2016, becoming a simultaneous champion at featherweight and lightweight. Now he says he wants to climb back to the top.

"I'm a 170-pound fighter now," he said in a recent interview with Paramount+, the UFC's broadcast partner. "I've already held the undisputed UFC lightweight championship. There are great fights ahead of me, and I want to be active."

He added that a UFC title challenge was firmly within his sights. "Of course I can challenge for the UFC title," he said.

To get there, he first needs a win on his comeback. The UFC accommodated McGregor's return by scheduling the bout at welterweight, sparing him a more demanding weight cut. Holloway, a former featherweight champion who has never competed at welterweight, accepted the arrangement without objection.

After this fight, McGregor appears more likely to drop back down to lightweight. Competing against the larger frames of full-time welterweights looks like a stretch, and he enters the Holloway bout as the underdog.

His focus already seems fixed on the lightweight division. In the same interview, he weighed in on Justin Gaethje, who claimed the lightweight title at last month's UFC event at the White House.

"Holloway beat Gaethje," McGregor said. "Gaethje was face-down, completely knocked out. He looks absolutely terrible when he's not on form."


yjc@heraldcorp.com