​Well, five years have passed since Conor McGregor last slipped off his shoes inside the Octagon, and now we find him in MMA’s own reimagined comeback tale, a modern “Return of the Mac.” He’ll step back into the spotlight against Max Holloway, fighting at 170 pounds on Saturday night in Las Vegas, headlining UFC 329. Holloway has kept busy since McGregor’s last appearance in 2021, competing eight times, challenging for the featherweight title twice, testing the waters at 155 pounds, delivering a knockout that many will remember against Justin Gaethje for the BMF belt, settling a score with Dustin Poirier, and then losing that same BMF title to Charles Oliveira. In short, a lot has unfolded since McGregor broke his leg at UFC 264.
That reality brings with it a flood of big questions about one of the UFC’s greatest and most polarizing stars. Let’s dive into them.
Chuck, when I first arrived in the U.S. 12 years ago for UFC 178 as the novelty Irish journalist covering McGregor’s early days, the prevailing question was: “Is he really like this all the time?” My answer was always the same. He truly was that guy you saw at the press conferences—fiercely devoted to fighting, obsessively conditioned, and adept at mentally toying with his opponents in any way he could. I haven’t seen that version in years. I haven’t spoken to McGregor in about a decade. This newer incarnation of Conor is almost unrecognizable to me, and it’s difficult to reconcile him with the figure who captivated the world.
His voice has shifted; he sounds different, and his appearance has changed too. The headlines surrounding him now focus more on controversies outside the cage than on the fights themselves. He’s gone from being the figure who made it cool to be Irish to one of the most divisive and controversial personalities on the island. For me, the UFC legend was forged between 2013 and 2016. It began with Marcus Brimage and culminated with Eddie Alvarez in New York. What has followed since then has offered little worth celebrating.
Since 2021, Conor McGregor has largely stayed in the news for the wrong reasons. I’d argue that his gravitas—and the mystique that once surrounded him—held strong at least through UFC 229, even as he and team members drew headlines for a bus incident and provocative remarks about Khabib Nurmagomedov’s family, not to mention his splashy appearance during the Floyd Mayweather promotional tour in “pimp form.” There remained a certain aura of superstardom; a chameleon-like ability to appear in different promotional versions of himself. But in the years since, a string of unfortunate events has muddied that image, making it difficult to identify the hungry, young fighter who once even borrowed money from his coach to chase the dream.