Conor McGregor is scheduled to return to the Octagon against Max Holloway at UFC 329 on July 11 in Las Vegas, the report says. The update followed an edition of a story originally published in June 2024 and revised May 16 after the UFC announcement.
The report recounts the moment McGregor reached mainstream megastar status during a 2017 world tour to promote his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. A widely seen photograph by combat photographer Esther Lin captured the pair on July 12, 2017, at the Budweiser Stage in Toronto. The crowd included numerous Irish flags and pro-McGregor signs, and the report says many in attendance were there primarily to see McGregor.
According to the report, McGregor matched Mayweather’s wit on the microphone and emerged from the Toronto stop as a fan favorite, a turn that helped solidify him as a major attraction in combat sports. The report says that what began as competitive banter during the tour later devolved into trash-talking and verbal jabs that the report describes as racially insensitive and anti-gay. Photographer Esther Lin told ESPN that McGregor realized he could command an audience and embraced that attention.
Just over a month after the Toronto stop, Mayweather scored a 10th-round stoppage over McGregor, the report says. The fight produced a guaranteed purse of $30 million for McGregor, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and McGregor suggested that the total haul exceeded $100 million when pay-per-view, gate, sponsorship and merchandise revenue were included. The report lists the live gate at an estimated $55.5 million and says the bout generated about 4.3 million pay-per-view buys, short of the 4.6 million for Mayweather–Pacquiao. The report characterizes the overall payday as far larger than McGregor’s prior top UFC payout.
The report cites UFC president Dana White saying that McGregor’s newfound wealth had changed his outlook and raising the possibility that he might step away from fighting. Since leaving the boxing ring, the report says McGregor’s record includes one UFC win and a string of setbacks that the report summarizes as arrests, injuries, lawsuits and multiple allegations of sexual assault. His next scheduled appearance, per the update, is UFC 329 on July 11 in Las Vegas.
