[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"header-nav":3,"footer-nav":29,"article-holloway-welterweight-mcgregor-ufc-329-rematch":82,"category-counts-nav":96,"related-holloway-welterweight-mcgregor-ufc-329-rematch":106},[4,8,11,14,17,20,23,26],{"label":5,"to":6,"exact":7},"Home","\u002F",true,{"label":9,"to":10},"World Cup","\u002Fworldcup",{"label":12,"to":13},"Standings","\u002Fstandings",{"label":15,"to":16},"Football","\u002Fcategory\u002Ffootball",{"label":18,"to":19},"Basketball","\u002Fcategory\u002Fbasketball",{"label":21,"to":22},"Tennis","\u002Fcategory\u002Ftennis",{"label":24,"to":25},"F1","\u002Fcategory\u002Ff1",{"label":27,"to":28},"Long Reads","\u002Fcategory\u002Flong-reads",{"brand":30,"columns":32,"tagline":80,"copyright":81},{"description":31},"In-depth sports journalism covering football, basketball, tennis, F1, and beyond. Daily analysis, long reads, and expert opinion.",[33,51,59],{"heading":34,"links":35},"Leagues",[36,39,42,45,48],{"label":37,"to":38},"Premier League","\u002Ftag\u002Fpremier-league",{"label":40,"to":41},"La Liga","\u002Ftag\u002Fla-liga",{"label":43,"to":44},"NBA","\u002Ftag\u002Fnba",{"label":46,"to":47},"Formula 1","\u002Ftag\u002Fformula-1",{"label":49,"to":50},"Champions League","\u002Ftag\u002Fchampions-league",{"heading":52,"links":53},"Content",[54,56,57],{"label":55,"to":16},"Analysis",{"label":27,"to":28},{"label":58,"to":16},"Data & Stats",{"heading":60,"links":61},"Company",[62,65,68,71,74,77],{"label":63,"to":64},"Terms of Service","\u002Fservice",{"label":66,"to":67},"Privacy Policy","\u002Fprivacy",{"label":69,"to":70},"Editorial Policy","\u002Feditorial",{"label":72,"to":73},"Contact Us","\u002Fcontact",{"label":75,"to":76},"About Us","\u002Fabout",{"label":78,"to":79},"Website Disclaimer","\u002Fdisclaimer","Built for the love of sport","© SportPulse. All rights reserved.",{"title":83,"slug":84,"category":85,"badge":15,"author":86,"excerpt":87,"date":88,"readTime":89,"image":90,"imageAlt":83,"tags":91,"body":94,"_path":95},"Holloway Remade: The Welterweight Gamble Behind UFC 329","holloway-welterweight-mcgregor-ufc-329-rematch","long-reads","Marcus Wright","Max Holloway has packed on serious mass to face Conor McGregor at welterweight, and the stakes have never been higher for both legends.","2026-07-13 01:52:25","6 min read","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fholloway-welterweight-mcgregor-ufc-329-rematch.webp",[92,93],"UFC","MMA","## The Weight of a Rivalry\n\n**Max Holloway** walks into UFC 329 on Saturday carrying something he has never carried before: genuine welterweight mass. The former featherweight king has completed a physical transformation that has the entire MMA world talking. He meets **Conor McGregor** in a rematch years in the making, and this time, **170 pounds** is the battleground.\n\nThe first time these two met, back in **2013**, Holloway was a 21-year-old prospect getting fed to a rising star. McGregor won that fight by decision, tearing his ACL in the process. Nobody knew then that both men would become two of the most decorated fighters in UFC history. Now, over a decade later, the sport gets its dream rematch at a weight nobody saw coming.\n\nThis is not a fight born from a rankings mandate. This is a fight built on legacy, pride, and the kind of narrative money cannot manufacture. Holloway moving up to welterweight to face McGregor is the type of situation that defines eras.\n\n## The Transformation\n\nHolloway's move to welterweight is not a last-minute cut or a short-notice gamble. This is a calculated, monthslong reconstitution of his body and his approach. His team has spent the better part of a year adding functional weight to a frame long considered too slight for the heavier classes. The results are striking.\n\nReports from his camp describe a fighter who has entered his physical prime with brutal efficiency. Holloway has historically walked around between **175** and **180 pounds** outside camp. Now, with a structured nutrition program and an adjusted strength regimen, he is carrying that weight with purpose. The added muscle is visible in his shoulders and core. He looks like a natural fit at welterweight, a terrifying proposition for anyone in the division.\n\nThe challenge of moving up is not just about adding pounds. It is about adding pounds without sacrificing the speed and cardio that made him great. Holloway's volume striking has been his signature since he took the featherweight throne in **2017**. His record **19-6** in the UFC is a testament to how effective relentless pressure can be even against elite competition.\n\n## The McGregor Factor\n\n**Conor McGregor** enters this fight with a trail of unanswered questions stretching back to his last MMA appearance in **July 2021**. His leg snapped against Dustin Poirier, and since then, comebacks have been teased, scheduled, and postponed. UFC 329 represents the most concrete step toward a McGregor resurrected. But ring rust is not just a talking point. It is a quantifiable factor.\n\nMcGregor has not fought professionally in over **three years**. For a fighter whose entire offensive system depends on timing and distance management, that layoff is enormous. Holloway, by contrast, has fought as recently as **April 2023**, when he defeated Arnold Allen in a dominant featherweight showcase.\n\nMcGregor has history at welterweight. He fought there twice against Nate Diaz, going **1-1** in a rivalry that produced his most iconic moments. He has always maintained that he carries the extra weight well, and at **5'9** with a **74-inch** reach, the dimensions translate. But Holloway, at **5'11** with a **69-inch** reach, presents a different puzzle. He is taller, longer, and operates at a pace McGregor has never had to sustain for twenty-five minutes.\n\n## The Tactical Canvas\n\nHolloway's path to victory is clear and brutal. He will march forward, throw in combinations, and test McGregor's gas tank early. His ability to maintain a high output deep into fights is unmatched at featherweight. The question is whether that engine runs the same at welterweight, where every exchange carries more mass and more consequence.\n\nMcGregor's path is equally clear. He needs an early finish. His counter left hand remains one of the most dangerous weapons in MMA history. If he catches Holloway coming in during the first two rounds, the narrative will rewrite itself in an instant. But if Holloway survives the early storm, the attrition...\n\nThe longer this fight goes, the more it favors the man from Hawaii. McGregor has been taken into deep water before and has drowned there. Holloway lives in deep water. He has gone the distance in **14** UFC fights, winning **12** of them.\n\n## The Locker Room Before the Storm\n\nInside the fighter hotel the night before weighins, the atmosphere is thick with anticipation that borders on reverence.\n\nHolloway's corner is loose, smiling, moving with the calm of a group that knows their man has done the work. They can be heard discussing strategy in low tones while their fighter jokes with staff. There is no tension here, only the quiet confidence of a camp that has ticked every box. Holloway himself sits centerstage in the room, shadowboxing intermittently between bites of a carefully portioned meal, his added frame evident even in a compression shirt.\n\nDown the hall, McGregor's entourage projects a different energy. It is louder, more boisterous, carrying the kind of charged atmosphere that has become his trademark. The Irishman is a coiled spring, pacing between rooms while his team reviews film on a laptop. The intensity is palpable, and everyone who walks past the suite can feel it.\n\n> \"I have been doing this since I was a kid. I was born for this. weight is just a number. I am going to go out there and put on a show. This is my legacy.\"\n\nHolloway's words, spoken softly to his coach moments earlier, carry the weight of a man who understands the magnitude of the moment.\n\n## The Stakes\n\nFor McGregor, a loss here likely spells the end of his time as a competitive force at the top of the sport. He has built an empire outside the cage, and without the aura of invincibility that combat provides, that empire will eventually sunset. A win, however, rewrites the entire McGregor story. It proves that the layoff, the injuries, and the distractions were surmountable. It puts him right back in the conversation for a title run.\n\nFor Holloway, the stakes are arguably higher. He is betting his future on the proposition that he can carry power and strength into a new division without losing the attributes that made him a legend. A loss would not diminish his featherweight credentials, but it would raise questions about whether his move up was premature.\n\n## What It Means\n\nUFC 329 is not just a main event. It is a moment that ties together two eras of MMA and lets them wage war under the brightest lights. Holloway's welterweight transformation adds a layer of intrigue that elevates this beyond a standard rematch. If he can carry his weight and his engine into the deeper rounds, we may witness the coronation of a new chapter in his career. If McGregor finds that left hand early, the combatworld will need to collectively recalibrate its expectations around a fighter it has tried to bury more than once. Either way, Saturday night changes everything.","\u002Farticles\u002Fholloway-welterweight-mcgregor-ufc-329-rematch",[97,98,99,100,101,102,103,104,85,105],"analysis","basketball","cricket","f1","football","general","golf","mma","tennis",[107,120,130],{"id":108,"stem":108,"path":109,"title":110,"category":85,"badge":15,"badgeType":111,"author":112,"authorRole":113,"authorInitials":114,"date":115,"readTime":116,"image":117,"imageAlt":110,"tags":118,"excerpt":119},"mccolgan-foot-fracture-commonwealth-games-defense","\u002Farticles\u002Fmccolgan-foot-fracture-commonwealth-games-defense","McColgan Races the Clock to Defend Commonwealth 10,000m Crown","category","Elena Rossi","SportPulse Contributor","ER","2026-07-27 00:32:00","2 min read","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fmccolgan-foot-fracture-commonwealth-games-defense.webp","Commonwealth Games, Athletics, Long Reads","Eilish McColgan is fighting a foot fracture to defend her Commonwealth 10,000m title on home soil on Monday.",{"id":121,"stem":121,"path":122,"title":123,"category":85,"badge":21,"badgeType":111,"author":86,"authorRole":113,"authorInitials":124,"date":125,"readTime":126,"image":127,"imageAlt":123,"tags":128,"excerpt":129},"weather-delays-womens-pga-championship-final-round","\u002Farticles\u002Fweather-delays-womens-pga-championship-final-round","Storm Warning: Weather Halts Women's PGA Championship Final Round","MW","2026-06-28 17:37:56","7 min read","https:\u002F\u002Fichef.bbci.co.uk\u002Face\u002Fstandard\u002F976\u002Fcpsprodpb\u002Fb01a\u002Flive\u002F6e1d8c90-730f-11f1-8b3a-1977d6dee6ef.jpg","Women's PGA Championship, LPGA Tour, Golf Majors","A 3.5-hour weather delay disrupts the Women's PGA Championship, reshuffling strategy and nerves at a major climax.",{"id":131,"stem":131,"path":132,"title":133,"category":85,"badge":15,"badgeType":111,"author":112,"authorRole":113,"authorInitials":114,"date":134,"readTime":89,"image":135,"imageAlt":133,"tags":136,"excerpt":137},"duckett-trent-bridge-century-england-new-zealand-tactical-reply","\u002Farticles\u002Fduckett-trent-bridge-century-england-new-zealand-tactical-reply","Duckett's Counter-Attack Redefines England's Tactical Reply at Trent Bridge","2026-06-26 17:33:47","https:\u002F\u002Fichef.bbci.co.uk\u002Face\u002Fstandard\u002F976\u002Fcpsprodpb\u002Fac89\u002Flive\u002F972d8a20-7181-11f1-b1db-af71d47507d6.jpg","Test Cricket, England Cricket, New Zealand Cricket","Ben Duckett's explosive 99-ball century anchored England's aggressive response to New Zealand's 438 in the series decider."]