Holloway completes welterweight transformation for McGregor showdown
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Max Holloway weighed in at 170lb (12st 2lb) for his welterweight debut after a 36-fight career primarily at featherweight, stepping up from lightweight where his last two bouts saw him win the BMF title from Dustin Poirier before losing it to Charles Oliveira in March.
- Conor McGregor, 37, returns to the octagon for the first time since breaking his leg in a 2021 loss to Poirier, weighed in at 170.5lb — half a pound heavier than Holloway — amid ongoing scrutiny over court cases and missed drug tests.
- At Friday's news conference McGregor ripped Holloway's glasses off before an intense staredown; Holloway told the crowd: "I'm too ferocious, I'm too relentless."
- Paddy Pimblett (156lb), Lone'er Kavanagh (126lb) and Luke Riley (146lb) all made weight, putting three Britons on the card, with Pimblett's lightweight bout against Benoit Saint-Denis positioning the winner near a title shot.
- Zuffa Boxing — founded by Dana White and backed by Saudi Arabian funding — used the weigh-in stage to stand Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn together, openly teasing an imminent welterweight bout between the pair.
- Four-weight world champion Shakur Stevenson signed with Zuffa Boxing on Thursday and watched from the stage, with Tyson Fury's name also floating around as a potential future signing after appearing at the UFC's White House show.
Why it matters: McGregor's first fight in over four years comes against a resurgent Holloway jumping two weight classes after a featherweight career, raising the stakes for a 37-year-old whose stock has been battered by legal issues and missed drug tests; with Stevenson signing and Garcia-Benn teased at the same weigh-in, Zuffa Boxing leveraged UFC 329's spotlight to demonstrate its growing reach into boxing under Dana White and Saudi funding.
