Max Holloway Admits to Knowing About Conor McGregor Fight at UFC 329 Long Before Announcement

Last weekend, UFC fans were pleasantly surprised by the news of Conor McGregor’s return fight. It was announced that the Irishman would return on July 11 at UFC 329 during International Fight Week, against Max Holloway. Following this announcement, ‘Blessed’ has revealed how hard keeping this fight under wraps truly was.

McGregor has not fought in the UFC for nearly half a decade now. The ‘Notorious’ has been out since 2021 following a gruesome leg break against Dustin Poirier. With the hype and drama surrounding his possible return, the reports, rumours, and leaks about his return were endless, with the Irishman himself adding fuel to the fire with his erratic social media posts. 

This added attention made it all the more difficult for Max Holloway to keep this fight a secret. During his first livestream since the announcement, the former featherweight champion revealed when he knew about the fight. He also spoke about his upcoming move to welterweight, even joking about missing weight.

You know how hard it is? You know how hard it is to keep that fight under wraps for how long we did? We knew that fight for a minute, bro.

Max Holloway via live stream

Holloway had revealed earlier that he was in camp for his next fight. While the Hawaiian did not reveal his opponent’s identity back then, he did reveal his frustration at not having a contract yet despite being in training camp. However, ‘Blessed’ has not brought up this issue since. 

The former featherweight also confessed that he is not expecting an easy fight against McGregor. Having fought the Irishman before, he answered a fan’s question by admitting that he and his camp are expecting a difficult fight. Holloway even revealed that he expects the former double champion’s legendary mic skills to remain intact.

Every fight is a hard fight, bro. Conor’s still dangerous, bro. You’d [have to] be dumb as hell to think he’s not.

Max Holloway via live stream

Max Holloway says he's known about the Conor McGregor fight for a while and had to keep it secret:

"You know how hard it is to keep that fight under wraps for how long we did? We knew that fight for a minute bro.

I'm excited, I get to eat what I want to eat boys… imagine I… pic.twitter.com/pzzqwqAnul

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 21, 2026

That said, a lot of fans do not share the Hawaiian’s opinion of his former opponent being a hard fight for him in 2026. This small yet vocal section of fans has pointed to recent training footage from Conor McGregor’s camp to back up their arguments. 

Conor McGregor’s training footage worries fans heading into Max Holloway fight

Conor McGregor vs Max Holloway in 2026 is a very different fight from their first encounter in 2013. The foremost difference being that the Irish former double champion has not fought in a long, long time. In that same time, ‘Blessed’ has been taking on and winning against elite competition, often creating viral moments like the one at UFC 300. 

This frequent activity from the Hawaiian contrasted against the Irishman’s inactivity has led to fans speculating that this fight would be one-sided. Despite Holloway’s best efforts to convince fans otherwise, footage from Conor McGregor’s camp overshadowed his comments. This footage, showing McGregor practicing a specific striking sequence on pads, has done nothing to assuage fans’ fears.

Fans in the comments said that the former double champion looked stiff and slow. They worry that his movement has become compromised by the gruesome leg injury he suffered against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. Many analysts, fighters, and coaches also have their opinion that the Irishman’s return would not be as spectacular as some hope, citing an alleged lack of motivation on his part.

Nonetheless, all these questions will be answered soon on July 11. Despite all the buzz in the MMA community, it is clear that Conor McGregor has trained hard for his impending return. Moreover, with both fighters’ striking-heavy, fan-friendly styles, it is difficult to imagine this fight not being a barnburner.

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