McGregor to Face Holloway in UFC Return

McGregor, 37, was once the biggest star in his sport. In 2016 he became the first UFC fighter to hold two weight-class titles at the same time. He had knocked out featherweight champion José Aldo in 13 seconds in 2015, and the next year he beat Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight crown. A 2017 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. reportedly earned him tens of millions of dollars. But since 2016, he has won only one of his four MMA fights. His personal life has been turbulent too. In October 2025 he accepted an 18-month ban for missing three drug tests; the ban expired in March. In 2024, an Irish jury found him civilly liable in a rape case and ordered him to pay £206,000.

For McGregor the fight is part rematch — he beat Holloway at featherweight in 2013 — and part reckoning. Holloway, 34, has spent the past decade among the elite at lightweight. McGregor has not beaten a top opponent in 10 years; his only win since 2020 came against veteran Donald Cerrone. With a reported $200 million fortune, money is not the goal. The real test is psychological: have injury and years of inactivity taken away the speed and timing that once made him a champion?