Conor McGregor says Max Holloway must be his next opponent and that he is on the road back to fighting. He is three months removed from surgery and says he returned from a similar injury in nine months before, putting a comeback around the start of next summer. McGregor said he would have beaten Holloway on one leg and is still coming to terms with how shocking and heartbreaking the injury was. He also told fighters calling him out that only world champions and world-level fighters should say his name.
Conor McGregor says Max Holloway has to be his next opponent, laying out a plan to return from leg surgery around the start of next summer.
McGregor, three months removed from the operation, said he is on the road back to fighting. He pointed to a previous comeback from a similar injury that took nine months and said that timeline puts his return at roughly the beginning of next summer. He also said he would have beaten Holloway on one leg and admitted he is still coming to terms with how shocking and heartbreaking the injury was. Fighters calling him out, he added, should be world champions or world-level talents before they say his name.
The request comes after Holloway beat McGregor by first-round KO/TKO at UFC 329 on July 11, 2026, the most recent recorded fight for both men. That result reversed their first meeting, a unanimous decision win for McGregor on August 17, 2013.
The fighters
McGregor, 38, is 22-7-0 and fights out of SBG Ireland. The southpaw lands 5.27 significant strikes per minute at 49 percent accuracy and averages 0.66 takedowns per 15 minutes. His previous three recorded losses before the Holloway rematch all came against Dustin Poirier, in 2021, so he has lost four straight fights in our records.
Holloway, 34, is 28-9-0 and ranked fourth in the lightweight division and ninth in the pound-for-pound rankings. The American from Gracie Technics lands 6.92 significant strikes per minute at 48 percent accuracy. The win over McGregor followed a unanimous decision loss to Charles Oliveira in March 2026 and a unanimous decision win over Poirier in July 2025.
Why it matters
- Volume gap: Holloway out-lands McGregor by 1.65 significant strikes per minute, 6.92 to 5.27, at near-identical accuracy.
- Physical gap: McGregor is four years older, while Holloway, at five-foot-eleven, stands two inches taller. McGregor holds a five-inch reach edge, 74 inches to 69.
- Timeline: A return around next summer would leave roughly a year between the UFC 329 loss and any rematch.
The call for a third fight carries no official word from the UFC or Holloway. Nothing has been confirmed, and McGregor's own recovery timeline stays an estimate until he is cleared to compete.
